Remember When
by SilverRose88
Summary: Sasuke and Naruto are dating for two years when their lives change drastically. Can Sasuke live with a blonde who has no memory of him? Or will their lives together end completely? SasuNaru HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters in _Naruto_.

**Author's Note:** Okay, this was an idea I had sitting in my mind for awhile and I decided to type it up and put it up and see what I got for feedback. This will probably be the story I'll continue in once I finished The New Guy. For any of you who read The New Guy, don't worry, I _will_ update soon. I'm just in a big writer's block for that story and I need for time and ideas to get the next chapter up. This story came to me awhile ago and because I wasn't getting anywhere in The New Guy, I decided to give this one a shot. Um, I'm not really sure what to make of this story yet, it's only the first chapter and I'm basically putting it up to see what the response it. Hopefully you'll all enjoy the first chapter. Read and review please. Yours, SilverRose88.

**Remember When**

**Chapter One**

_Simple things that occur everyday could change your life forever. For example, you are a C average student and decide to study hard on a test. You are rewarded with an A, and, therefore, you begin to study every night to ensure the good grades. Earning A's changed your life; no longer are you on a path towards working night shifts at the local burger joint, but you are on the track towards receiving a masters degree in forensic sciences. Or, say you are one of those kids who sees others being picked on every single day but never stop to help. What if one day you do help that other kid out; suddenly you find yourself with the newest and most best friend you could have ever imagined. It is amazing how simple things can change our daily lives so easily and we never seem to notice it. _

_When I was nineteen, one of those simple things changed my life forever. It was one of those things I had never expected to happen, one of those things I believed would never in a million years happen to me, but of course, fate has its way about doing things on its own, with or without your approval, because, believe me, if I had had a say in what had happened three years ago, I would have never agreed to it. Some peoples lives change for the better, and I suppose mine did too, in the long run, but at nineteen, while I was considered an adult, I still acted like a child, and therefore, I didn't see the good in what happened. To me, changing my normal lifestyle to something that was the complete opposite hardly seemed fair, especially when I hadn't done anything to deserve it. _

_I was a sophomore student at Konoha University, studying to become a history professor. I was a hard-working student and I lived in an apartment a block away from campus, because I found living on campus bothersome. But, there were times when living in my apartment was bothersome as well. I had a roommate, but he wasn't just any kind of roommate. We were involved, really deeply involved, and had been for two years, starting in our senior year of high school. And yes, I said he, and if you're offended, then too damn bad, because I loved him more than even I thought it was possible. People found it confusing how the two of us, the two most opposite people in the entire universe, had gotten to love each other like we had. To this day, I'm not quite sure, but that really doesn't matter. We'd been friends since we were in junior high, but we were the kind of friends that always picked on one another and always fought. During high school, things calmed down a bit, and in our last year, we both came to realize that our relationship had somehow crossed over to something more than friendship. _

_Uzumaki Naruto was everything I was not. He was bright, energetic, and happy. While I, Uchiha Sasuke, was cold, reserved, and annoyed. Somehow I began to need his energy and exuberance to survive, and I suppose he needed my aloofness to keep going as well. Naruto had moved into my apartment during the second semester of our freshman year, and we'd been living together ever since. It was nice, having him around all the time, though I never said it to him aloud, but I think he knew how I felt nevertheless. We loved each others company and we tried to spend as much time together as we could, considering our conflicting schedules. While I wanted to pursue history, Naruto wanted to pursue English, and therefore, we never had classes together, but always managed to spend some time each day with one another. It was a pattern I grew into and soon realized, after the incident, that I couldn't live without. _

_The incident happened early during our sophomore year and it changed everything. Some days I blame myself, other days I blame those kids, there were days I even blamed Naruto, but that never lasted long, believe me. The months, the years, after the incident were terribly hard to bear with and I had to suffer more than I had ever suffered in my life. I began to realize how much I truly loved him, needed him, and couldn't live without him, but it was hard, after the incident, to be with him, because he couldn't remember. _

_Simple things can change the course of your lifetime. My life changed with one single thing, something that happened to millions of people each day, and I never saw it coming. But my story has a good ending. As you read my story, think of your own life and be grateful for everything that you have. Because it's possible that you might never get it back. _

_But, then again, sometimes you might. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Naruto, will you stop poking me while I'm driving?" said nineteen year old Uchiha Sasuke to his boyfriend of two years.

"But you're not telling me where we're going and I want to know!" the blonde whined.

"You've been trying to get it out of me for a long time now, Naruto, and poking me is not going to help any," Sasuke said with a chuckle as he glanced over to look at the pouting blonde. He felt himself crack under that cute stare. "Don't do that, Naruto. You know I can't stand that look."

But Naruto only intensified it, giving Sasuke bright teary blue eyes and trembling lower lip.

"Dammit, Naruto, I'm not telling!" Sasuke exclaimed. "It's a surprise, all right? I don't want you to know yet. You wanted to do something fun because it's our two year anniversary, but I want it to be a surprise, so deal with it, okay? "

"Aww, Sasuke!" Naruto whined loudly. "Just tell me, please?"

"I thought you liked surprises," the brunette said

"But only when I sort of know what's going to happen. You're no fun, you keep everything to yourself so easily. I've been trying for a week to figure this out, but you haven't let anything slip."   
"That's because I want it to be a surprise. So stop acting like a four-year old and shut up," Sasuke said, turning his attention back to the road.

The blonde looked away grumpily, sagging against the passenger seat. He continued pouting for awhile before giving up and turning the radio on, flipping through stations before settling on the song Pump It.

"Argh, what a stupid song, change it," Sasuke said.

"No, I like it," Naruto said stubbornly.

Sasuke shook his head and turned to a station playing Kryptonite. "That's better."

"No, this sucks," Naruto said, changing the station back.

Sasuke glared at him, fully aware that Naruto loved that song and was being stubborn on purpose. "Just put it back! How can you listen to this crap?" the Uchiha said, changing the station yet again.

"How can you listen to this crap?" Naruto retorted, switching the station.

"Naruto!" Sasuke said, glaring at him.

"Just leave the station alone!" Naruto exclaimed, glaring back.

"No chance in hell," Sasuke said, reaching for the dial again.

"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed again.

"I'm changing the song, Naruto, live with it."

"N-No, Sasuke, the road, watch out!" Naruto screamed, pointing through the windshield.

The Uchiha snapped his head up to look at the group of children running into the street to grab a stray basketball.

"Shit," Sasuke swore as he slammed on the brakes and swerved the car to the left side of the road, just as another car turned the corner.

Suddenly, everything began to move as though it were slow motion, but Sasuke was only aware of Naruto's loud scream as he swerved again to avoid the oncoming car. And then, everything went black.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ah!" Sasuke exclaimed, jumping up into a sitting position and staring crazily around the room, feeling his heart pounding rapidly in his chest.

"Calm down, honey, or you'll get worse," a serene voice said.

Sasuke around the white plain room, then up into the face of a young looking woman. "Where-Where am I?" he asked.

"Oh, honey, you're in the hospital. You've been out for almost five hours," the nurse said, slowly helping him into a sitting position, leaning against the back of the bed.

"The…hospital?" Sasuke repeated and then his breath caught in his throat as he remembered. His anniversary…driving to the secret place…bickering over the radio station…the children…_Naruto_!

"Naruto! Where is he?" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Oh, your friend?" the nurse said, looking grave. "He's in intense care right now, dear. The other car hit his side extremely hard."

"Is he..?" Sasuke choked out, feeling his heart being squeezed in his chest.

"No," she replied, patting Sasuke's hand and relieving the brunette a bit. "He's hurt very badly, though, and we are not sure when he'll be okay. I'm not really sure what is going on with him. But, for now, you have to sit and relax or you'll get hurt even more."

"I don't give a damn about myself! I'm worried about Naruto! Can I see him?" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Not until you're better," the nurse said.

"Yes, Sasuke, you should calm down," a male voice said as someone walked in through the door.

Sasuke looked up and stared in surprise because of all the people in the world, his mathematics professor was in the room. "What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Sasuke demanded.

"The doctors called Iruka because they found his number in Naruto's wallet. I was with Iruka and obviously he couldn't drive in a state of complete hysteria, so I did, and here I am," Hatake Kakashi said, grinning behind a scarf that covered the bottom of his face.

"Joyous," Sasuke replied sarcastically, but was grateful that at least Naruto had someone who cared for him watching him right now.

Iruka and Kakashi were professors at Konoha University, where Sasuke and Naruto both attended. Iruka, however, had been Naruto's legal guardian since Naruto's parents had died in a car accident when he had been four. Naruto's parents and Iruka had been close friends, and because Naruto didn't have any other relatives, Iruka had taken over. Naruto had lived with him until almost a year ago, when he had moved in at Sasuke's apartment off campus.

"So, how are you feeling, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

"Fine," he replied sourly. "Just go away, you're not family."

"But I'm all you have right now."

"That's not very comforting," Sasuke said, but then suddenly sat up straighter as he realized something. "Wait, if-if they looked for someone to call for Naruto, that means they looked for someone for me…Don't tell me they called--"

"Sasuke! Oh, my little brother, are you okay?" came a sudden loud voice after the slamming of the hospital room door.

"Oh, dear god," Sasuke said as an older man who looked almost identical to him came rushing in.

"Get out of her now, aniki," Sasuke said angrily.

"But _why_?" Uchiha Itachi said. "You're hurt, I need to stay."

"Kakashi-sensei's here," Sasuke said. "I'm fine."

"And just a minute ago I thought I wasn't family," Kakashi said, pretending to look confused and Sasuke just glared at him.

"I have to stay, Sasuke!" Itachi said.

"You're only making me hurt more," Sasuke said, as he struggled in the grasp of his older, not quite sane, brother.

"Yes, I agree with him, sir," the nurse said, stepping in. "Could you kindly step outside and wait to sign the hospital papers? Sasuke will probably be released tomorrow; he just needs to stay overnight to ensure that nothing else has happened to him."

"What about Naruto?" Sasuke asked immediately.

"Oh, I'm not sure about your friend, dear. He'll probably be here for quite awhile," she replied looking solemn.

Sasuke felt his heart crack slightly in his chest as Itachi and Kakashi both left the room. He sighed deeply and shut his eyes. Naruto, _his_ Naruto, was stuck lying in some room being prodded and poked and _he_ was stuck in here, perfectly all right, but restrained from going anywhere near him. Dammit, he couldn't stand for it. He _needed_ to see Naruto, to see that he was okay, and then to get the hell out of that hospital.

"Darling, if you tense up so much, you'll get worse. Please try to calm down," the nurse said.

Sasuke opened his mouth to tell her to fuck off, when she continued, "I know you're worried about your friend, but there is nothing you can do right now."

She smiled. "Tell you what, if you eat your dinner and take a nap, then maybe I can get you out to check on Naruto, all right?"

He hated being treated like a child, but nodded anyway. "Fine," he mumbled.

She beamed. "Good. I'll be back with your food."

"Actually, could I just sleep for now? I'm kind of tired," Sasuke said. He knew his anxiety to see Naruto would prevent him from doing any sleeping or eating. But, he _could_ pretend to sleep; he couldn't pretend to eat.

The nurse nodded. "No problem, go right ahead, dear."

Sasuke sagged against the pillows and shut his eyes. As he thought about Naruto, he gradually fell asleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"How do you suppose we tell him?" Sasuke heard a voice say somewhere above him. The voice sounded familiar but he couldn't place it.

"Maybe we should wait until tomorrow," came another voice, sounding very nervous.

"But he'd want to know now," replied the first voice.

"Oh, this is horrible! Just completely and totally horrible!" exclaimed yet another voice, and Sasuke realized he was listening to his brother, Kakashi and Iruka.

"This will kill him," Iruka said. "It's already killed me."

"Everything will be fine," Kakashi said in an usually consoling voice causing Sasuke to furrow his brow in confusion. What were they talking about?

"We just have to let Sasuke know first. That's what's most important right now," Kakashi said.

"He would want to know from us than from one of the nurses," Itachi said.

"But how do we tell him?" Iruka said frantically. "How do we let him know that Naruto is in a coma and we don't' know when he'll wake up?"

"And, how do we tell him that the boy might have some kind of amnesia?" Kakashi said.

"How do we let him know that?" Itachi questioned.

Sasuke suddenly sat up and stared at them, all three looking aghast that he had been awake during their conversation. Feeling as though someone had just stepped on his heart and had grounded it to dust, Sasuke demanded, "What did you just say?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**A/N:** What did you think? Please give me all of your thoughts about the story! I want to know if I should continue it or not. I hope you all enjoyed it and want to read more, but I don't know if I'll continue unless I have enough response or if I can't think of what else to do. Please give me all of your feedback! Until later, thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_.

**Author's Note:** I'm here with chapter two! I want to thank you all for your reviews, it helped me keep wanting to write the story and get this chapter up. Um, since I really have nothing else to say, I'll just let you all read. Enjoy! --SilverRose88.

**Chapter Two**

_They wouldn't let me see him for five days. Five whole days, and I found myself slowly going insane. How could they not realize how much I needed to see him? How could they not have noticed that I was frantically getting worse because of being restricted from seeing him? Okay, they did notice that I was getting worse, but they didn't understand that if I could just have seen him, _once_, even, that I would have gotten better. Seeing him would have salvaged my anxiety. But, they didn't realize that. They only saw what the machines said and the fact was that I was getting worse. I had worried myself into a fever and that didn't seem to go well with my cuts and bruises because they all opened up again. One day I had to change bandages three times because they kept bleeding and bleeding. _

_But it wasn't only my worrying for Naruto that was causing me more pain. I hated hospitals and couldn't stand being in them for more than twenty-four hours. For me being stuck in one room with bandages, IV's and other crap stuck into me or over me, especially with Naruto in the state that he was, it was starting to get to me. I had never had a good experience with hospitals. My first time at one was when I had been four, and had gotten my first shots. Of course, no child likes being poked with a needle, but I couldn't stand it. My brother teased me quite a bit for crying my eyes out, but I couldn't help it. The other time I had been in a hospital was the night my parents had been burned in a fire. I'd been stuck out in the waiting room with Itachi and we'd been waiting all night to see if our parents could have been cured. However, they hadn't survived and, at the age of seven, it had been traumatizing. _

_So, you can see that my hate of hospitals had come from a good stem, and even though I was now nineteen, my hatred for the disinfectant-smelling place hadn't gone down a bit. _

_And, then, of course, there was Naruto. He was in a coma, and had been for a total for six days. He was in a room that was on the opposite side of the floor I was on and was being watched constantly for any signs of movement. He was supposed to wake up with some form of amnesia, having no memory whatsoever of the crash and even things earlier than that. The doctors weren't sure what type of amnesia he would get, and not knowing was driving me mad. I couldn't help but wonder if he would forget me, too._

_After five days, once my fever had gone down, my nurse, whose name I'd later found out was Rika, took me to see Naruto. My anxiety for his welfare made it almost impossible for me to even stand, but when Rika had suggested a wheelchair, I adamantly refused. I was an Uchiha, and would _not_ be pushed around in a wheelchair. Therefore, I walked and I walked, and I made it to my Naruto's room, and looked in through the glass on the door. I had never felt so afraid before in my life. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You can go inside if you'd like," a soft voice said behind him.

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder to see his nurse watching him worriedly.

"I know you're hurting, dear. Your teacher told me about your relationship with him, so go on inside and let it out. I'll tell the nurses to give you some time alone," Rika said.

Despite himself, Sasuke was starting to really like his nurse. "Thanks," he mumbled and then walked inside the room.

The room was identical to Sasuke's on the other side of the floor, with the exception that there were more machines and the fact that the window shades were drawn closed. That instantly bothered him; Naruto loved the sun, loved being outdoors. How could they even fathom drawing the shades? Sasuke walked over to the windows and pulled the shades open, letting the sun shine in through the glass and bask over Naruto's body, giving the boy an ethereal glow. Sasuke sighed in relief; _that_ was how it should be.

He walked over to Naruto's side and sat down in the fold-up chair that had been placed there. Breathing deeply from within his lungs, he finally turned his gaze onto Naruto for the first time in almost a week. As he stared at the figure lying motionless on the bed, Sasuke could only think that this wasn't Naruto. There was no way this could be Naruto. The Naruto _he_ knew was lively, active and grinning that odd grin all the time. _This_ Naruto was pale, helpless and immobile. What had happened to _his_ Naruto?

Sasuke shut his eyes tightly and shook his head. It wasn't going to help anything if he started going insane. He knew this was his Naruto; there could only be one person in the entire world named Uzumaki Naruto, and this was definitely him. But, Sasuke was having a hard time coming to terms with it. Naruto wasn't the kind of person who could handle being restrained on some hospital bed with IV's stuck up his arm.

_He doesn't _know_ he's in a hospital, remember? _the voice in his head reminded him.

Sasuke shuddered slightly, remembering that Naruto was in a coma and had no idea where he was or what he was doing. Naruto was in this state because…because of _him_.

_It's my fault he's stuck here like this. If I hadn't been so annoyed by him that night and had just let him listen to whatever damn radio station he wanted to, then…then…neither of us would be here right now…We'd have celebrated our anniversary and…and everything would be fine. He-He wouldn't be lying here in a coma. _

"Dammit!" Sasuke exclaimed putting his face in his hands. "Why-Why did I do that? Why didn't I just let him do what he wanted, at least for that night? It's my fucking fault he's lying here…here, looking like…"

Sasuke glanced up into the blonde's face that was pale and expressionless. His eyes were shut, and his body lay there with no movement whatsoever. Sasuke felt his heart begin to crack again as he reached a hand out and slowly ran his fingers over Naruto's cheek, wincing slightly at how cold his skin felt. But he willed himself to gone on; letting his fingers trace around the blonde's face, eyelids, nose, and lips, before reaching down and grasping Naruto's hand in his own.

Even though he knew Naruto couldn't hear him, he still quietly said the words that Uchiha's never said easily, "Naruto…I-I'm sorry…This was all my fault."

"If-If I hadn't gotten so annoyed by you then you wouldn't be stuck like this," Sasuke muttered inaudibly, his grip around the blonde's hand tightening. "Ple-Please get better soon. You _have_ to get better soon. …I-I don't know what I'll do without you…"

Just then there was a knock on the door and someone called, "Sasuke?"

The young Uchiha looked up quickly and glared at his brother. "Get lost," he growled, annoyed that Itachi might have heard his previous confession.

If Itachi had heard anything, he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he walked inside and said, "I know you want to stay, but your doctor is here and wants to check up on you. You'll probably be released soon, so come on."

"Get lost," Sasuke growled again.

Itachi folded his arms and repeated, "Sasuke, come on."

"I said, get lost."

"Listen, sitting here is not going to get you better," Itachi said. "I know you're worried about Naruto, we all are, but you can't sit in here all day."

"Just go away."

Itachi sighed and walked over to Sasuke's side. He placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and said, "I understand how you're feeling, but--"

"No, you don't know how I'm feeling!" Sasuke exclaimed as he turned to face Itachi, swatting the older Uchiha's hand off his shoulder. "You can't understand _at all_ what I'm going through right now! So don't start preaching to me about some stupid crap."

"I'm not preaching to you, Sasuke," Itachi said calmly as he watched his brother worriedly. However, his concern only credited to annoy Sasuke off even more.

The younger Uchiha jumped to his feet and exclaimed, "Quit looking at me like that! I'm fine, there's nothing wrong with me! Those damn doctors should help _him_!" Sasuke pointed down at Naruto. "They should help Naruto get better! _He's_ the one suffering!"

_I think you're suffering more than Naruto is, Sasuke, _Itachi thought sadly as he stared at Sasuke, wondering what he could say to calm him down. "S-Sasuke, listen--" he began, but Sasuke cut him off again.

"Shut up! Just get the hell out!" he exclaimed, looking away. He sat back down on the chair and said, "Can you please just leave me alone?"

Itachi sighed again. "You have five minutes until the doctor gets here. I expect you to be in your room when he arrives."

The older Uchiha then walked swiftly out of the room.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dr. Hanada was a old prickly looking man with thick glasses and an annoying, scrutinizing gaze. Sasuke hated him immediately, and therefore, just sat on the bed staring lividly at the wall while his doctor checked over his charts.

"Well, Sasuke," he said in a nasally voice that also annoyed Sasuke off. "You're looking good. You've recovered from the fever perfectly and your cuts and bruises have all healed. I think you're set."

"I'm free to go?" Sasuke asked, glancing at him.

"Yes, you're free to go. Have your brother sign the discharge papers and you can gather your things and hightail it out of here," Hanada said with an attempt to be funny. Sasuke only shifted his gaze back on the wall.

"Now, if anything else happens, come see me again, all right?"

_Not a chance in hell. _"I think I'll be fine," Sasuke said getting to his feet as the doctor headed towards the door. Just before he left, Sasuke called after him, remembering something he'd wanted to ask. "Uh, wa-wait, I have a question."

Dr. Hanada turned around and nodded. "Sure."

"Do you know any-anything else about, you know, my friend?" Sasuke asked, feeling a bit awkward and embarrassed even asking.

"Ah, the Uzumaki boy, right?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Well, all I know is nothing. I'm sorry, but with comatose patients, it's virtually impossible to tell when they'll wake up or what's exactly wrong," the doctor said. "The only thing I can tell you, is that comatose patients, though physically aware _are _still mentally aware, sort of. If you sit and talk to him, it can trigger body movement and responses. Comatose patients can wake up, but there are cases when they do not. I hope, for your sake and his, that that doesn't happen."

Sasuke felt his heart break. "T-Thank you," he mumbled.

"No problem," the doctor said before walking out just as Itachi entered.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, I-I'll meet you at the car…I have to do something first though," Sasuke said.

Itachi nodded, understanding what Sasuke meant, and left. Sasuke walked out a few seconds after and made his way straight to Naruto's room. Slipping in unnoticed, he shut the door to behind him and walked over to the bedside. He let his eyes roam over the motionless blonde, trying to be strong despite what his doctor had just told him.

_No. Naruto _will_ survive this. He _will_ get through this. _I'll_ kill him if he doesn't!_

Sasuke sighed and grasped Naruto's hand. _The doc said to talk to him, right?_

"H-Hey, dobe," Sasuke said. "Wake up, got it? You can pull through this."

Sasuke shut his eyes, picturing a grinning Naruto, wondering what the blonde would say in reply. His lips quirked slightly and he said, "_Yes_, that was sort of like a compliment. But don't expect it to happen again."  
Shaking his head, Sasuke sighed and said, "Listen, I'll be back, all right? Don't worry, okay? I'm coming over every day, no damn nurse or doctor is going to keep me away."

Sasuke almost laughed, thinking to how Naruto would find this confession extremely amusing. "Yes, I'm not acting like my self, but you do that to me."

Sasuke was suddenly a bit glad that Naruto couldn't hear him; the blonde would have mocked him for life.

Just then the door opened and Rika stuck her head in. "There you are," she said. "Who let you in?"

Sasuke replied simply, "I did."

Rika gave him a reprimanding look, but it was then replaced by a soft smile. "I understand. Now, say your goodbyes and go, your brother's waiting for you and Naruto's doctor is coming to check up on his patient."  
Sasuke nodded and stood. He looked his Naruto over before leaning down and softly kissing Naruto on the lips. As he did so Sasuke could have sworn he had felt Naruto move, but when he pulled away, there was no other evidence of what he'd felt. He sighed and whispered, "I'll be back tomorrow, okay?"

The imaginary Naruto gave him a bright grin and the thumbs up sign. "I'll be fine!" it said. "Go!"

Sasuke nodded, not caring as much as he should have that he was talking to an imaginary dobe, and then followed Rika out the door.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_I hadn't been aware of how much I needed and relied on Naruto's presence until the first day it was gone. When I returned to my apartment for the first time in almost a week, I stood in the middle of the room, feeling as though I didn't belong there. The walls seemed too plain, the couch too soft, and the bed too stiff. Yet, everything was the same. The living room was exactly how we'd left it the afternoon before the accident: remote control on the couch, couch pillows strewn over the floor because of Naruto's initiated pillow fight, the DVDs we'd picked to watch later still sitting neatly upon one another by the television, and Naruto's ramen cups littered the coffee table. It had made the pain even more unbearable, seeing everything looking just as it had been, and so I had made my way down the hall and to the bedroom. In here I found our unmade bed with Naruto's clothes littering one half of the mattress. Our books and homework cluttered our two desks on opposite sides of the room, with Naruto's side a bit messier than mine. _

_As I took in the familiar, yet foreign, sight before me, I expected Naruto to come bounding in screaming something stupid like "We're out of ramen! Let's get some!" _

_But as I had stood there, waiting for the scream I knew would not come, I felt my well place resolve start to break. _

_After so many years of being around a constant source of annoyance, anger, despair, and happiness, I suddenly found myself lost beyond all words. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Have you gone to see him today?"

Sasuke nodded. "I see him every morning before my first class, then at noon, during lunch, and then once after my last class. It's a daily ritual now," he replied.

Haruno Sakura, a 'somewhat' friend, smiled at him from across the table. "That's nice. I went and saw him yesterday, you know. All of us did; me, Ino, Lee, Hinata, Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, even Gaara…The nurse almost fainted at the big crowd."

She shuddered slightly and continued, "It was so sad. I felt like crying. He didn't even look like himself. It was as if someone had stuck a manikin in his place."

"Yeah, I know," Sasuke said tightly.

"Oh, I don't mean to make you upset, Sasuke-kun," she said, touching his hand. "It-It was just so surprising. I-I didn't know what to do. And, he's been like this for what? A week?"

"A week and a half today," Sasuke answered.

While the accident seemed like years ago to anyone else, Sasuke was constantly reminded of it when he awoke alone in bed every morning. Even his dreams sometimes depicted the horrendous crash and Sasuke often awoke in the middle of the night in cold sweats, not able to return to sleep for about an hour.

Everyday for the last week and a half, he went to the hospital and sat by Naruto's bed, holding the blonde's hand and talk to him like the doctor had said. He talked about whatever he could think about: the weather, his teachers and classes, the damn doctors that weren't doing anything. There were also times he just sat there, holding Naruto's hand, and thought about the night of the crash and how everything had been his fault.

No matter what anyone told him, Sasuke had decided that everything that had happened had truly been his fault. He needed to blame someone for what had happened to Naruto and while he didn't want to be the cause of it all, there was no one else. Oh, of course he blamed the doctors for keeping Naruto in a coma; he made it obvious he hated them every time he was in the hospital, but he also blamed the driver in the other car and even blamed those kids playing in the street. Sasuke hadn't found any reason to blame Naruto yet. It hadn't been Naruto's fault Sasuke wasn't watching the road. That had been his own.

Lately, Sasuke had slowly grown accustomed to seeing Naruto three times a day and had come to accept being alone in the apartment. But, Sasuke tried to spend as little time there as possible, preferring to study in the library than alone at home.

At the moment, he was at the Konoha University Library, studying for a class with Sakura, who was a closer friend of Naruto's than she was with him. But, Sasuke needed someone to talk tot, and with Naruto goon, Sakura was runner up, and she seemed glad to keep him company.

"Sasuke-kun, how are you feeling?" Sakura asked.

"How do you think I'm feeling?" he snapped. She asked him this every fucking day and it _always_ irritated him to no end.

Sakura sighed. "The same response again. I know that you don't feel good with Naruto in the hospital---"

"If you know then don't ask."

"Sasuke-kun, we're all worried about you. You're like a walking zombie; sleep, eat, study, and more sleep. That's not good for you," Sakura said.

"And this is different from before, how?"

"I know how much you love Naruto, but you can't keep letting yourself rot like you are! It's not healthy and you'll land yourself in the hospital with Naruto."

"So what? It's better than being stuck out here," Sasuke exclaimed brashly.

Sakura blinked and stared at him for a moment before smiling. "You miss him a lot, don't you?"

Sasuke winced slightly and looked away, not responding.

"It's okay to miss him, you know," Sakura said gently.

"Hmph. Who said I did?" Sasuke lied.

Sakura frowned. "You're such a liar, Sasuke-kun."

"Shut up," he snapped. He then glanced at his watch and got to his feet. "I've got tot go."

"Already? But you didn't even study!" Sakura said.

"Big deal. I'm going down to see Naruto before my next class," Sasuke said, stuffing books in to his shoulder bag.

"See? You _do_ miss him!" Sakura exclaimed.

Sasuke smirked. "Surprising, isn't it?"

As Sakura watched Sasuke run out of the library, she smiled to herself and replied, "No, Sasuke-kun, it's not."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto_.

**Author's Note:** Uhh, I wasn't planning on putting this up until after I finsiehd The New Guy, but yeah, that didn't turn out how I planned. Writer's block for The New Guy made me turn to this story. The chapter's short, but gets the real plot going, so I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for all of your support! So, read, enjoy, and review.

Oh! Just so you know and don't get confused, Naruto and Sasuke started dating in February of their senior year in high school. In the first chapter, it was their two year anniversary (they're college sophomores), and now by the end of this chapter, it is April of their sophomore year. So, I hope that helps. I got confused myself.

Anyway, lots of love from SilverRose88.

**Chapter Three**

_I'll spare you all of the details during the first month and a half Naruto was still in his coma. My days were the same: wake up, eat, visit Naruto, classes, visit Naruto, lunch, classes, visit Naruto, dinner, study and sleep. Rarely did I talk with anyone, though Sakura always made it a point to annoy me. I would never admit that her constant babbling did take my mind off other pressing things; if Sakura knew her antics were working, she'd _never_ give up. In recent years, I have become more tolerant of her behavior, and we are close friends. _

_But during those days, I had never felt so alone, and that surprised me. I had been a lonely boy during childhood; always standoffish, and quiet. After the death of my parents, I was put into the care of my aunt and uncle. Under their supervision, I became even more alone and distant, despite their constant attempts to change me. Itachi and I moved out once he turned eighteen and believe me, living with my eccentric brother didn't quite 'fix' me either. But, it had been during those years that I met Naruto and our story began. _

_I mentioned before that we were rivals before friends and our constant arguing and fighting became the highlights of my every day. I ached to see him at school because it would give me another chance to tease him or humiliate him. I hoped for him to initiate a fight so that I could kick his ass ten different ways. I hadn't understood my need to his presence then, because at the age of twelve my intelligence hadn't quite reached it's potential. _

_However, I understand it now, and I think I began understanding during those days I visited Naruto in the hospital. I needed him because I needed to be needed. Yes, I know that it is a rather strange concept, but it is the truth. I had felt so alone for such a long time that being needed by someone, even if it was to cause havoc each day, was like a new drug I couldn't get enough of and I had never felt so wonderful in my life. _

_And, one evening while I was at the hospital visiting Naruto, that feeling came back. It was during the second month of his comatose state and of, course, I didn't realize the feeling until the day after when I sat down and thought about it. But, once I had, I could only think that it was the best day I had had in a long time. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ah, Sasuke, you're back," Rika greeted the young Uchiha as he walked out of the elevators.

"Good evening," he replied, having grown a bit fonder of the nurse each day. She was the one always making sure he could be alone with Naruto every time he visited, and Sasuke knew he'd have to repay her somehow. Out of all the doctors and nurses he'd met, Rika was the one he tolerated most.

"Have you eaten yet?" she asked.

Sasuke shook his head.

"Would you like anything?"

"Actually, some black coffee would be nice, thank you," he replied and she nodded before walking away.

Sasuke made his way into Naruto's room and took his usual chair by the bed. The blonde was no better today than he had been two months ago and Sasuke's worrying was slowly increasing. There had been a few days when he'd worried so much he'd skipped classes to stay with the blonde, which only earned him lectures from Iruka, while Kakashi stood off to the side, grinning.

Ever since the accident, Sasuke had been seeing more of Kakashi and Iruka than he cared to. They came to visit Naruto once a week and found his visits thrice daily a bit troubling. Sasuke ignored them as best he could, but when they realized he wasn't going to listen, they brought reinforcement: his brother. While Sasuke had grown into ignoring his brother whenever possible, when Itachi wanted to be heard, he would be heard, and he made it _loud_ and _clear_. Sasuke was sure his hearing would never be the same again.

But even with his brother, Iruka, and Kakashi ganging up on his 'unhealthy-visiting', Sasuke hadn't changed his routine at all. If anything, he strengthened it, finding time to visit the blonde a fourth time whenever he could. What his teachers and brother didn't realize or understand was that being with Naruto as much as he could made him start to accept things better. Sasuke had accepted things, especially after a month and a half of visiting Naruto, and he had started thinking that maybe he could ease off on the visiting a bit. But, when he thought about it later, he felt sick about even fathoming the possibility. Not visiting Naruto would be too hard for him to handle because when he wasn't with the blonde he felt incomplete and it was a feeling he couldn't stand.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head, clearing his mind of all thoughts. He reached for the blonde's hand and squeezed it softly before letting it rest in his open palm.

"Hey, dobe, I'm back again," Sasuke said, feeling the bit of awkwardness he always did when talking to his boyfriend who couldn't talk back. But even though he knew that, he still did it, because, if anyway, it gave me a peace of mind.

"You're probably getting sick of me, aren't you?" Sasuke asked. "Well, too damn bad, because I'm not leaving, ever. You're going to deal with me until you get better and then once you're out of here, I'm _never_ going to leave your side. I'm not letting anything like this happen to you again."

Sasuke squeezed the blonde's hand and then kissed that back of it softly, only to drop it as if lightening had stuck him. He looked down at the blonde's hand and jumped to feet in shock as he saw Naruto's fingers move.

"He-He's…" Sasuke stammered and then look up into his eyes and saw his eyelids trying to blink open; fluttering slightly. Sasuke practically flew out the door and to the nurses' station.

"N-Naruto! He-He's waking up! Quick! Room 202!" Sasuke exclaimed frantically.

Rika, who'd heard Sasuke's exclamation, grabbed his arm and dragged him back to Naruto's room, one of Naruto's own nurses following after. In the blonde's room, the nurses checked the machines and the patient, but then before any conclusion had been made, the blonde stopped all signs of movement. It was as if nothing had happened at all.

"W-What happened?" Sasuke said, staring at Naruto blankly.

"Oh, honey," Rika said consolingly. "It was just a little spell."

"So, he's still in a coma?" Sasuke asked.

"Unfortunately, yes, dear. But it was a good sign! A very good sign!" Rika replied.

Sasuke clenched his fist at his sides to prevent himself him hitting something, or someone.

"I-I'm going home," he ground over and left quickly. He returned to his apartment in record time due to the fact he had driven at about ninety-five miles per hour, trying to calm his nerves. Of course, that only intensified how horrible he felt, making his anger and frustration reach the point of exploding. And explode it did when right after he walked into his apartment, he slammed the door and then slammed his fist fiercely into the wall.

"Dammit!" he yelled, not caring if he woke up the entire building. "Dammit!"

Sasuke leaned against the wall he'd previously been beating and slid down to the floor. He put his face in his hands and took a deep breath.

"God, he was so damn close…. So close…Why didn't he wake up? Why?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"He moved? That's great!" Sakura exclaimed the next day during class.

"Great? Sakura, he didn't wake up. He's still in the same place he was two months ago. What's great about that?" Sasuke snapped.

"Are you _blind_? Or just stupid?" she questioned. "I know he's still not awake, but at least he's _progressed_! Naruto moving even a little is a good sign!"

After hearing her say it like that, Sasuke did feel a little stupid. He'd been so angry that Naruto hadn't woken up he didn't give himself any time to be glad that Naruto showing movement meant he was better. And that meant he wasn't even close to how he'd been before. That thought alone was comforting.

"He moved…" Sasuke said slowly as if he wasn't quite sure himself.

"Yes! Naruto moved!" Sakura exclaimed, beaming.

"What is this? Naruto moved? Is he awake now?" came another voice, startling the two friends.

Sasuke turned to look at Hyuuga Neji, a classmate, and friend of Naruto and definitely not him.

"Yes, Naruto moved; last night," Sasuke replied coolly.

"That is wonderful news. I must go see him later," Neji said. "He has not awaken yet, however?"

"No, he has not."

Neji sighed. "That is unfortunate. Hm…I miss him hanging around," the Hyuuga said before nodding at Sasuke and waling away.

"That bastard," Sasuke mumbled angrily when Neji was out of earshot.

"You could have been ruder, couldn't you?" Sakura said, glaring at him. "Why were you being so mean? He asked a normal question."

"I just don't like him," Sasuke replied through gritted teeth.

"For goodness sake, Sasuke-kun, it's been ages since Neji liked Naruto. You don't have to be so angry and jealous at him."

"Who says I am?" Sasuke demanded.

"Sometimes, Sasuke-kun, you're easy to read as a book, and I know that look on your face. Besides the two of them are _friends_, so quit being an ass all the time," Sakura said.

"I can't help it," Sasuke said. "It's just--"

But he was cut off as a group of Naruto's friends bombarded Sasuke with questions.

"Hyuuga says Naruto moved! Is he awake yet?"

"Does that meant he's getting better?'

"When's he gonna wake up?"

"Can we go see him?"

Noticing that her friend was going to explode at any second, Sakura answered hastily, "Naruto moved, but he's not awake. Now go, before Sasuke-kun kills you."

They didn't need telling twice; the look in Sasuke's eyes and his feral growling was enough to send them away.

However, he turned to Sakura and demanded, "Why'd you tell them the truth? Now _they're_ going to be there whenever I am."

"Sasuke-kun, _no one_ will be there _every_ single time you are," Sakura said. "But they _are_ Naruto's friends and they care about him, too. You can't ban them from seeing him; be rational," Sakura said consolingly but with a little impatience. Sasuke could be _very_ childish and selfish sometimes, especially concerning Naruto.

The Uchiha put his head in his arms on the desk and closed his eyes, not replying. Sakura looked at him and said, "I'll tell them to visit him between seven and eight every evening. That gives them one hour every day when you usually go home to eat and study. That way you'll never have to deal with them, okay, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke looked up at her and mumbled, "Thanks, Sakura."

She beamed because those words hardly _ever_ came out of his mouth. "You're welcome, Sasuke-kun. I know you've hurting and if you're around Naruto's friends for too long, you'll kill someone, and it's best to avoid that."

Sasuke let out the slightest of smiles before looking away, thinking of the blonde. He usually tried to push Naruto out of his brain while in classes and sometimes it worked, but today he couldn't stop thinking of him. What if he moved again and Sasuke wasn't there? What…What if he woke up?

"Sakura, do you think he'll wake up?" Sasuke asked quietly, not looking up at her.

"Naruto? Oh, I have no doubt. You know him, he wouldn't let a bullet to his head stop him, so a coma won't either."

Sasuke couldn't help a smile at that; it was so true, Naruto was the most optimistic and enthusiastic person he knew. It was one of the things Sasuke loved about the blonde.

Sakura glanced at him and asked, "Why? Are you doubting it?"

"I'm just…scared," Sasuke mumbled.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Sasuke-kun, are you feeling okay? You said 'thanks', to me, at that, _and_ you admitted to being scared. Either you're sick, or you're not Uchiha Sasuke. What's going on?"

"Very funny," he snapped. "You know how much I love Naruto. Of course I'm scared!"

"Sasuke-kun, just be optimistic. Naruto _will_ wake up," Sakura said.

"Hn. Optimism is Naruto's forte, not mine."

"That's right. You're the 'screw-the-world-I-hate-everybody' one, aren't you?"

"Shut up, Sakura."

"See, that's the Sasuke-kun I know and love!" Sakura exclaimed before hugging him.

The Uchiha cringed and threw her off. "Don't _ever_ do that again," he warned but she just smiled.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Another two weeks went by without any other promising signs from the blonde. I was starting to wonder if what I had witnessed had only been a fluke, a dream because it seemed so farfetched to me when nothing similar occurred. Sakura kept telling me not to give up hope and I listened to her fro awhile before tuning her out completely. She knew I never really listened to her so I didn't care about ignoring her. I think I said so before, but Sakura really helped me a lot during those days without Naruto. Had she not been there, I would have definitely found a way to put myself into the hospital with the blonde. _

_On another note, as usual, I spent most of my evenings at the hospital, my daily visits not decreasing in the least and eventually Itachi, Kakashi, and Iruka gave up on trying to change my mind. T he nurses at the hospital started to find my presence annoying, however, though I could care less what women in short white dresses thought of me. Rika was the only one who loved seeing me, and I was never sure if it was because she, like other girls at my university, found me attractive, or if she had a soft spot for lovers and tragedies. Either way, I was grateful for her kindness and realize now how much I owe her all of her help. _

_But the nurses at Kohona Hospital are not what I wish to talk about. What I wish to tell you now is the second day that changed my life--the first being the night of the car crash. I had thought that the worst was over, but I was so very wrong. I remember the day down to the precise minute. It was Friday April 13th, and I was visiting the blonde at six o'clock in the evening. I suppose I should have realized that something wrong was going to happen, it being Freaky Friday, but I was never one who believed in superstitions, so I thought nothing of it. I found out later, how wrong I was._

_I'd tired to skip the entire day of lessons, but Sakura wouldn't hear of it, claiming I'd been skipping too many times already. I heeded her that day because I just wasn't in the mood to be on the receiving end of her anger. But immediately after my last class, I drove to the hospital, unknown to the pain that was coming. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Any change, Rika?" Sasuke asked the nurse as he walked out of the elevators. This question was his usual greeting ever since the blonde's first signs of movement. However, every day since then Rika's answer had always been the same.

"No, Sasuke, I'm sorry," she replied and the Uchiha sighed.

"Thanks," he said before walking into the blonde's room.

He took his usual seat by the blonde's bed and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"Hey Naruto," he said softly. "How are you today? Feeling any better? If it helps, _I _feel like crap, too." The Uchiha smiled despite himself for a moment before letting it vanish and replacing it with a small frown.

"Your friends all say hi, too," Sasuke said, remembering how Naruto's friends had ambushed him when he tried to leave, saying they were going to go with him. Of course, one look changed all their minds instantly.

"Come on, dobe, wake up soon, okay?" Sasuke said, knowing he sounded desperate, but not caring. "I'm going insane without you, you know.

He sighed. "Iruka's freaking out about you, too. He attacks me every day to see if you've progressed since he knows I'm here almost five times a day."

"You're worrying everyone, Naruto, so hurry up and come back, okay?" Sasuke squeezed the blonde's hand tighter. "I know you'll probably blame me for the accident. _I _blame me for the accident. If I hadn't…you'd-you'd be okay, _alive_, and we could've spent the past month and a half together. And I don't care if you blame me…I-I just want you back. So, dammit, Naruto, get better soon."

Sasuke looked at his watch and figured he'd go get something toe at since he hadn't had anything but a bagel all day. He wouldn't have even had that had Sakura not shoved it down his throat. Sasuke got to his feet, then leaned over and kissed the blonde chastely on the lips.

"I'll be right back," he said before making his way to the door, only to stop dead in his tracks as he heard the monitors beeping in a different beat.

Turning around he looked at the blonde whose eyes were fluttering as he tired to open them, and whose hands, arms, and even legs were moving. Sasuke first thought was he was having some kind of seizure, but the beeping of the machines told him otherwise. It was the beat of a normal heart, and that meant--

"Quick, he's waking up! It's real this time!" Sasuke shouted as he stormed outside.

The blonde's nurse came running in, followed a moment later by Rika. Sasuke hovered behind them with his heart beating so fast he was afraid it was going to fall straight out of his chest. He was afraid and hopeful at the same time; was this read or just another fluke? Was god kind enough to bring the blonde back on his birthday?

"Sasuke, he's waking up. This is wonderful!" Rika exclaimed, grabbing Sasuke's hand and dragging him forward.

Sasuke couldn't form any words, couldn't do anything expect stare that the slowly awakening blonde with a rapidly beating heart.

And then, it happened. The blonde's eyes fluttered open to reveal the bright blue orbs Sasuke loved, the beeping on the monitors became steady as his heart rate went to normal. He raised his arm to rub his eyes and his nurse went to help him into a sitting position.

"There, dear, just sit against eh wall. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"C-Confused…Where-Where am I?" he asked, looking up at her.

"Honey, what's the last thing you remember?" she asked.

Naruto's face scrunched up cutely as he tried to remember. "Uh…I-I don't know…Sorry."

"It's all right, dear," Rika said, stepping forward. "Can you tell us your name?"

"Uh, Uzumaki Naruto…"

"Good, and--"

But Sasuke couldn't take anymore of this interrogation. He wanted to feel the blonde, hold the blonde, kiss the blonde and no damn nurse was going to stop him.

He moved out from behind Rika and said carefully, "N-Naruto?"

The blonde turned to face him quickly, recognizing the voice, and his eyes widened tremendously.

"Naruto, are you--" Sasuke began but stopped when his boyfriend of two years pointed a finger at him and yelled, "What the hell are you doing here, Sasuke-bastard?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: ** _Naruto_ belongs to the one and only Kishimoto Masashi.

**Author's Note:** Since I finished my other Naruto fanfiction, I can start focusing on this one. I really don't have much to say about this chapter, it's just here as a setting for the rest of the chapter. You find out about Naruto's amnesia and stuff like that. Um, I'm not sure if in real life you can discharge an amnesiac patient right away or not, but for the sake of the story, it had to be done, so sorry if that's impossible. Other than that, thanks for your reviews! Please enjoy the chapter and leave a review! Thanks, SilverRose88.

**  
Chapter Four**

"What the hell are you doing here, Sasuke-bastard?" Naruto yelled, pointing at the raven whose heart had just stopped.

"What-What do you mean 'what am I doing here?'" Sasuke asked after a moment.

"I _mean_, what are you doing here?" Naruto replied.

"I'm here because we're--" Sasuke began, but Rika cut him off.

"Naruto, uh, what grade are you in, do you know?" she asked.

"I'm in twelfth grade," he replied. "It's just the beginning of the year. …What's wrong? Isn't it September 2004?" He glanced at Rika's sad expression o his nurse's head shaking and finally to Sasuke who looked as though he'd swallowed poison.

"Isn't it?"

"No, honey," his nurse said. "It's two and a half years from then. It's April 13th, 2007."

"2007?" he repeated. "But-But how can-can it be?" Naruto looked really confused and put a hand to his head.

"N-Naruto," Sasuke began.

"You're still here, bastard? What're you doing here?" Naruto asked, the flame back in his eyes.

"Why are you saying that? Don't you _know_ why I'm--umph!"

Rika clamped a hand over Sasuke' mouth and dragged him out of the room, giving Naruto and his nurse an apologetic smile.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sasuke demanded once outside.

"Sasuke, listen, it's hard to know for sure quite yet, but given what Naruto has told us, I think it's safe to assume."

"Assume _what_?"

"Naruto has amnesia. It was always out there as a possibility when he would awake, but we weren't able to know for certain. But it's obvious now," Rika said.

Sasuke stared at her. "What?"

"Sasuke, I know this will be hard to take in, but just hear me out. The crash obviously affected him mentally and physically, which put him in the coma. However, comatose patients, when they wake up, can have amnesia, which is when they lose their--"

"I know what amnesia is," Sasuke snapped. "Naruto doesn't have amnesia. He-He remembered himself, and-and me…"

"But he remembered the 'Naruto' and 'Sasuke' of two years ago," Rika said and then the reality of it slowly sunk into the Uchiha as he remember everything Naruto had said and how he'd acted upon seeing him.

The Naruto today, _his_ Naruto, _his _boyfriend, wouldn't have acted that way. He would've been happy to see him. He would've let Sasuke hug and kiss him senseless. But _this_ Naruto seemed to want nothing to do with him.

Sasuke couldn't believe this was happening. After all those days waiting for Naruto to get better, waiting for Naruto to regain consciousness, he never would have even thought of this possibility. A twelfth grade Naruto at the beginning of the year would mean that they were rivals but friends; it was the year when they had finally gotten together. So if he could just make Naruto remembered then--

"I know what you're thinking, Sasuke," Rika interrupted his thoughts. "But I ask you not to go about it."

"And why the hell not?" Sasuke hissed. "My boyfriend is sitting in there with no memory whatsoever of the last two and a half years when we've been together. I'm going to make him remember me."

"Sasuke, think of it form Naruto's position," Rika said. "He's in there confused already because in his mind it's two years ago. If you were to tell him that the two of you are lovers--"

"We're not lovers," Sasuke cut in, blushing.

Rika looked embarrassed. "Oh, sorry," she mumbled before continuing. "Anyway, if you told him that you and he are dating, do you think the Naruto of two years ago would be able to handle that?"

Sasuke stare at her, understanding her point, but hating it nevertheless.

"I know you're been dying for this day, Sasuke. But it's best to just pretend the two of you are friends and not dating. At least for now, okay?"

Sasuke nodded stiffly blank look on his face. He was trying desperately not to break down in front of Rika, but it was too much. The boy he loved, cherished, and desired remembered nothing of their years as a couple, but the years when they couldn't stand each other.

"Wh-What should we tell him then? H-He'll want to know why he got into the hospital," Sasuke asked.

"Well, we can tell him the truth."

"He won't believe the truth. Since in this mind we're 'sorta' friends, telling him the truth wouldn't work. And um, can you not tell him that I was driving? He already hates me, I-I don't want him to kill me before he remembers anything."

Rika assessed the Uchiha before nodded. "Does he own a bike?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We'll say he was riding his bike to a friend's house when a car hit him. Can you get his bike out of his house and--"

"Oh, dammit, I forgot!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"What?" Rika said, looking surprised.

"Naruto and I live together at my apartment. All of his things are there. But in the twelfth grade Naruto would still be living with Iruka, his guardian." Sasuke was panicking. _No. No, no. Naruto _can't_ move out of the apartment. I won't let that happen!_ _But-But, what can I do to stop it?_

"Okay, Sasuke, you go sort this out with Naruto's guardian. Naruto can't leave the hospital yet anyway, so talk to Iruka and see if you can come up with a plan. We'll tell him the fake car crash story for now. So, go," Rika said.

"Okay. Um, if he asks why I was here, just tell him that we're not complete rivals, and that I was worried, okay?" Sasuke said before swiftly exiting the hospital.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"And you're sure, Sasuke?" Iruka questioned.

The Uchiha nodded. "I was there, I saw it. But you don't have to worry. He'll obviously remember you." _It's me he doesn't remember._

Iruka looked relieved at that but hid it quickly remembering Sasuke's dilemma.

"Iruka…I know you probably want Naruto back here after the accident and since he'll probably still feel unwell, but…I-I really don't want him to move out," Sasuke said lamely, knowing he sounded pathetic. But he couldn't let Naruto leave the apartment. It was too hard to even think about let alone actually doing it.

"Sasuke, I understand what you're saying, but I really do want Naruto back here," Iruka said.

"Aw, come on, Iruka," Kakashi said, speaking for the first time since Sasuke had arrived at their house over twenty minutes ago. "Let Naruto stay with Sasuke."

Sasuke had never really appreciated Kakashi more than he did at that moment.

Iruka turned to Kakashi and said, "What? Why would you say that?"

"Because, for one, Sasuke'll probably kill you if you didn't, and two, it'll probably be the only way they'll ever get back together," Kakashi said. "I know you want him here, but Sasuke's loss is more than yours. We should consider his feelings."

"Since when have you ever considered his feelings?" Iruka asked curiously.

Kakashi smiled. "I've always had Naruto's and Sasuke's feelings at heart."

"Liar. You have some plan formulating in your brain and I won't let you mess with Naruto when he's just awoken from a coma," Iruka scolded. "Anyway, how do you propose, if we did let Naruto stay with Sasuke, we explain to him that he's rooming with his rival?"

"Easy," Kakashi said.

"Easy? Please, indulge me."

"Well, we tell Naruto that his and your house is being fumigated or something. And that for the time being, he'll have to move in with a friend. However, since all of his friends live in dorms, he'll have to room with Sasuke."

The Uchiha stared at Kakashi with a newfound admiration. "That is an excellent idea! It'll definitely work!"

"And where do we tell him _I'm_ staying?" Iruka said.

"Why, with me of course," Kakashi said smiling.

"You live here. You don't have a house or apartment," Iruka said, looking at his boyfriend suspiciously. "Or do you? Have you been keeping something secret from me?"

Kakashi just smiled even more and replied, "Of course not."

"Then, what are you talking about?" Iruka demanded.

"A friend of mine owns a condo a few blocks from here. He's hardly ever around because he travels a lot. He lets me use it whenever I want. We can stay there for awhile," Kakashi explained.

Iruka still continued to look at him suspiciously. "Are you telling the truth?"

"Would I ever lie to you?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka just sighed. "Fine, whatever," he said and then turned to Sasuke who was looking hopeful. "Okay, Sasuke. W-We'll give this a shot. But that means you'll have to give back Naruto's things so that he can pack them--"

"That also won't be necessary," Kakashi interrupted. "We'll just tell him we moved it for him while he was in the hospital."

"Well, Sasuke will still have to rearrange the apartment somehow. Pictures and things will have to go, understand?" Iruka said.

Sasuke nodded vigorously. Pictures were nothing compared to having the real thing. If Naruto was back in the house, he'd gladly put anything and everything away to keep him there.

"That's fine," he said. "I can fix the apartment, no problem."

"Okay, then I guess we'll do this," Iruka said.

Sasuke sighed with relief and gave a small smile while Iruka continued looking uncertain and Kakashi just grinned.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"But _why_ have I got to stay with Sasuke-bastard?" Naruto whined.

"Because your friends are in dorms and Sasuke's the only one with an apartment," Iruka explained for the fiftieth time that morning.

"Stupid rich bastard," Naruto mumbled.

"What was that?" Iruka said.

"Nothing."

Iruka gave Naruto a stern look. "You should be grateful to Sasuke that he's letting you stay there."

"He's probably just doing it so that later I have to owe him for letting me stay. Stupid bastard," Naruto said. "Why can't I just come with you?"

"Because Kakashi's, um, apartment only has one spare room and no couch," Iruka lied. In fact, the condo he was using with Kakashi was so spacious and cozy that Naruto could have slept in the bathtub and still have been comfortable.

"I can sleep on the floor! Just give me a sleeping bag and I'll be fine, really!" Naruto exclaimed. "Please let me go with you!"

"No, Naruto. This has all been settled, okay? Just deal with Sasuke for awhile and everything will be fine, I swear," Iruka said.

"But Sasuke hates me. He's mean to me and he'll probably kill me in my sleep or something," Naruto complained.

"I highly doubt that," Iruka said with a smile. _If only you knew Naruto._

"Yeah, why?"

"Because then _I'd_ kill _him_," Iruka said.

Naruto snorted. "No way. You're too nice. You couldn't kill anyone," he said. Then he gave Iruka a big teary-eyed face. "Please, Iruka, can you please let me go with you?"

"I've already told you no, now stop complaining. Sasuke said he'd come get you so go wait for him," Iruka said.

"Oh, man!" Naruto exclaimed as he trudged to the front door and opened it right when Sasuke was about to ring the doorbell.

Both boys stared at one another for a moment before Sasuke said, "Ready, Naruto?"

"Yeah, whatever, bastard," Naruto replied, shoving past him.

The Uchiha cringed at being called bastard. Sure, Naruto called him a bastard every once in awhile, but it had gone down a lot after they'd started dating. He knew he was just going to have to get used to it for awhile.

"Do you have what you need?" Sasuke asked the blonde.

"Iruka already moved most of my stuff. The rest I have in here." He motioned to the backpack on his shoulder.

"Okay, good," he replied before the two got into Sasuke's car and drove to the apartment.

xxxx

"And this is my apartment," Sasuke said as he led Naruto inside.

The blonde looked around curiously and then suddenly stopped. "I-I feel like I've been here before…But I haven't, h-have I?"

Sasuke shook his head, trying hard not to blurt out the truth. "No, you haven't."

Naruto sighed with relief. "Okay," he replied.

"I guess this is where I'll be sleeping?" Naruto asked, motioning to the couch.

"Yeah. There's a pillow and a blanket. Your clothes are in that duffel bag over there," Sasuke said. "And, your school stuff is in your backpack. Of course, I don't think you'll be up to that anytime soon."

Naruto laughed and Sasuke felt his heart soar before it clenched tightly in his chest like it had been a moment before.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Naruto asked tentatively and the Uchiha looked up quickly at hearing his name and not 'bastard'. "Why're you being so nice to me?"

Not expecting that question, Sasuke just stared at Naruto for a moment before replying, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, I see, you're just helping because you feel sorry for me," Naruto said angrily.

"No, that's not true," Sasuke said instantly.

"Whatever. You don't have to lie to me," Naruto said. "I mean, we're not exactly friends."

Sasuke's heart clenched in his chest. "Really? I-I've always figured us to be."

Naruto's eyes widened. "W-We're friends?" he asked, looking confused.

"If you want to be," Sasuke replied simply. "I mean, we became 'friends' after 12th grade. But you don't remember--"

"I know, I know! And it's so frustrating!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly before sitting on the couch with a big sigh. "I'm trying really hard to remember. I _want_ to remember, but I-I just can't! I've missed two of the most important years of my life: senior year and college freshman year! I'm so behind I don't know what to do!"

Sasuke stared at the blonde agonizingly; wanting desperately to reach out and comfort him, but knowing it was impossible. Before now he hadn't quite realized just how hard this was for Naruto too. Hearing the blonde say it aloud, he couldn't believe he'd been so stupid.

"Y-You know, Naruto," Sasuke said and when the blonde looked up he continued. "I-I can help you out for whatever you need…You, um, just have to ask."

Again the blonde looked surprised, and the look was starting to annoy Sasuke.

"What?" he snapped. "Quit staring like an idiot."

Naruto laughed, not what Sasuke was expecting, and said, "See? _That's_ more like you! I'm not used to this 'nice-Sasuke.'"

Despite himself, Sasuke smiled. "Yeah, you wouldn't be," he said. "But you will eventually." _And I hope eventually you'll remember about us, and everything will be back to normal._

Naruto gave him a look that said he seriously doubted that, but then looked away.

Not wanting the conversation to end so soon, Sasuke took a shot in the dark and asked, "Are you hungry? W-We can go out to eat if you want."

Naruto instantly perked up. "Really? Yeah! Let's go!"

Pleased that his idea had worked (then again, he should have known it would; Naruto and food always went together), Sasuke said, "All right. I'll treat you to some ramen."

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed happily.

He then turned to Sasuke and said with a grin, "You know, I like this 'nice-Sasuke,'" before heading out the door.

Sasuke followed after slowly a slight smile on his face. _ I was hoping you would, Naruto._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Despite the amnesia, having Naruto back was better than I had imagined. The apartment was lively again; Naruto's antics never ceased to amaze me. He was always vibrant, always energetic, and always willing to start a fight. He was exactly the Naruto I remembered: foolish and hyper, but still so kind and happy. I had to be careful around him however, because my feelings were different. I found myself acting too nice on some occasions and had to revert back to my angry-bastard self to make the blonde stop looking at me funny. He always dismissed it; knowing that things had changed even though he couldn't remember. _

_But even though Naruto was back in my life, alive and well, I couldn't stop from wanting more. I should have been content with him being alive, with him being able to walk, talk, eat, and sleep like a normal person than be stuck in a hospital bed. But I wasn't content. I wasn't happy. I missed being able to tease him, kiss him, hold him. I missed being able to wake up with him next to me or go to bed with him already asleep. I missed him telling me he loved me, and I missed telling him I did too. _

_The first few days of having Naruto back were hard and depressing. Yet, at the same time it was oddly refreshing. It was as if our relationship was starting anew, a thought which caused me sadness but at the same time hope. It was hope that lingered in my heart during those days. Hope of wanting Naruto to remember, hope of wanting him to love me, hope that everything would return to its normal state. Hope. It was the only thing that kept me going. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Okay, listen," Sasuke began as he stared around at the group of people the after classes on the Tuesday after Naruto had woken up. "I know you're all eager to see Naruto--"

"Hell yeah! So stop lecturing us, Uchiha, and let us inside!" Kiba exclaimed.

Sasuke sent the Inuzuka a cold glare. "Shut up," he snapped before continuing. "This is important before you go and start blabbing about everything. I've already told Sakura, but the rest of you don't know. Naruto has amnesia and he woke up thinking it was two and a half years ago. Meaning, he doesn't remember _anything_ that happened during senior year in high school or freshman year of college. So don't mention any of it, okay? Es-Especially, don't mention anything about me and Naruto dating, all right? Iruka says it would be too much for him right now. Got it?"

Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Neji, Gaara, Shino, Hinata and TenTen all nodded in understanding, watching Sasuke with awe.

"Good. Anyway, he's really excited to see you guys, so…yeah," Sasuke finished lamely before letting them into the apartment.

"There you are Sasuke-bastard!" Naruto exclaimed jumping to his feet from the couch. "I thought you said we'd go eat out today."

"Sorry. But your friends wanted to see you," Sasuke replied, motioning to the group huddled behind him watching the blonde closely.

"Hey guys!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly looking at them all. He frowned when only Hinata waved and no one else responded.

"What's gotten into all of you? …Oh, I get it," Naruto said with dawning comprehension. "Guys, I'm fine! See? A few bruises and scratches, but no broken bones and the amnesia's not that bad, really. Quit looking at me like you've seen a ghost."

Sasuke glared at everyone to get the point across and the group visibly relaxed, smiling and laughing nervously.

Sakura took the initiative and said, "Hey, N-Naruto. It's good to have you back."

The blonde grinned and gave his friend a hug. "It's good to be back, Sakura-chan."

The tense atmosphere died away after that as each of the blonde's friends greeted him. Hinata shyly said she was glad he was alright. Kiba almost tackled the blonde to the floor, declaring he knew no coma would keep Naruto down for long. Shikamaru, Neji, Gaara, Choji, and Shino just gave the blonde a welcoming smile and handshake.

"If you guys want anything to drink, there's some coke in the fridge. I've got some work to start, so I'll leave you to talk then," Sasuke said before heading to his room.

However, Naruto grabbed his arm before he could make his escape and asked, "Where're you going?"

"I said I have work to do."

"Aw, come on, Sasuke, stay," Naruto said. "You can study later. Come hang out with us."

Sasuke shook his head. "No, Naruto," he said.

"Please?" he asked.

The blonde was acting so much like his old self that Sasuke couldn't help but cave. Rolling his eyes he then pinned the blonde with a glare and said, "Fine. But for a little while."

Naruto grinned and led the way back to the others who were all seated at the couch or on the dining table chairs. Sasuke sat down next to Sakura on the floor and crossed his arms with annoyance.

"You should be happy that he wants you around," Sakura whispered to him. "Doesn't that mean something to you?"

"Well yeah, but I really do have work to do," Sasuke said.

"Too bad, Sasuke-kun. I think this is more important for you right now," she said. "If he wants you around, he obviously remembers something of his old feelings, don't you think?"

The Uchiha looked up at the girl who gave him a pointed look and he felt his heart lift with hope. Maybe Sakura was right. The Naruto during senior year wouldn't have cared if Sasuke had stayed or left. But the Naruto that was there right now had, so something must have been different.

Feeling a bit better, Sasuke gave Sakura a light smile in gratitude and she smiled back.

"Yo, Sasuke-bastard!" Naruto called from the kitchen.

Nobody but Sakura noticed Sasuke cringe from the insult before he replied, "What?"

"Where do you keep the glasses?" Naruto asked.

The Uchiha sighed and got to his feet. Once in the kitchen, he reached for the cupboard next to the fridge and said, "Glasses are in here. Plates are in the one next to it, and utensils are in the drawer by the sink, okay?"

"Thanks," Naruto replied. "Sorry for asking."

"You don't have to be," Sasuke said, giving the blonde a look. "You just started staying here, remember?"

Naruto nodded and gave the Uchiha grin. "Mind helping with drinks?"

"What? Can't do it on your own?" Sasuke teased.

The blonde glared at him. "I can so! I just thought you'd be nice for once and help."

"Because you can't on your own, huh?"

"Shut up, bastard!"

Sasuke smirked, enjoying the conversation that he'd missed having with the blonde while he'd been comatose.

The two got the drinks ready and returned to join the others, handing glasses out to everyone.

Naruto took a seat on a chair while Sasuke resumed his position on the floor beside Sakura. The blonde grinned around at everyone and said, "So, what's been going on with everyone lately? Anything new or interesting?"

Everyone looked around carefully, trying to think of something they could say that wouldn't remind the blonde too much about the years he couldn't remember. However, Naruto realized what they were doing and gave them all a half-hearted glare of annoyance.

"Guys, don't worry, okay? Just tell me what's been going on! I want to know," he said.

"You know how Kiba's always been hung up over Hinata?" Sakura piped up, and Kiba turned to look at her quickly. "He finally got the nerve to ask her out. They've been dating for a few years now."

Naruto turned to look at his friend with surprise but a grin formed its way on his face. "Finally, man!" he exclaimed and patted Kiba on the back as he and his girlfriend blushed slightly.

"Yeah, and we're still all wondering what she sees in him," Neji said, casting Kiba a small glare.

Everyone laughed except Sasuke, who wasn't paying attention to anyone other than Naruto, and Kiba, who glared at Neji and said offensively, "Hey! What's wrong with me?"

"Still as protective over your cousin as I remember, eh, Neji?" Naruto asked.

The Hyuuga just took a sip of his drink and didn't bother to reply.

"We're also still wondering what TenTen sees in _you_, Neji," Kiba said getting revenge. "I mean, at least _I'm_ fun to be with. You've just got a stick up your ass. How she manages to put up with your bitchy attitude is a question none of us can answer."

Naruto choked on his drink. "No way! You and TenTen?" he exclaimed, looking between the couple. "And I thought you said you'd never be able to forget me, Neji."

Neji looked up at Naruto quickly, as did Sasuke, and Sakura, all three of them having realized the same thing. "Y-You remember that?" Neji asked.

Naruto looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You remember--" Neji began but Sasuke cut him off.

Heart pounding, the Uchiha stared up at Naruto and asked, "So far you've only remembered the beginning of senior year. But Neji didn't admit to liking you until well into the second half. Y-You remember that?"

The blonde looked even more confused and frustrated as well. "I-I-I don't know. I mean, I don't remember anything else…I can't think of anything else…Bu-But, I-I…"

He trailed off, looking dejected and Sasuke backed off, feeling his heart drop.

"It's okay, Naruto," Sakura said, taking over because Sasuke couldn't face him anymore. "We all understand. D-Don't worry about it now, okay?"

Naruto looked up at her and nodded, then gave a small smile. "Okay," he replied.

"Sorry, everyone," he said to all of them.

"You don't have to apologize, Naruto," Kiba said. "Anyway, let's get out of this remorse mood we put ourselves in. What were we talking about again?"

"Neji and TenTen, remember?" Ino said.

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed. "How did _that_ happen?"

"Actually, Naruto," TenTen began, "you were the one who got us together."

"I-I did?" the blonde asked, looking confused again.

She smiled. "It's okay if you don't remember it. But you decided Neji needed to date _someone_, and apparently, I was a good enough target. You did all in your power to get us together."

"I went on almost thirty dates with her in one _week_, because you were so persistent," Neji said.

"We went on a few double dates too. Me and Neji and you and Sas--" TenTen shut up quickly when Sasuke looked up at her threateningly.

"Really? I was dating?" Naruto asked quickly. "Who?"

Everyone looked around uncomfortably, darting glances at Sasuke who glared at them with the promise to tear limbs if they divulged the information. Sakura, however, who was used to his glare, only glared back. The Uchiha ignored her request of telling the blonde the truth. He only looked away and took a sip of his drink.

Naruto was still watching everyone, trying to figure out what they seemed to be hiding. "What? What aren't you telling me? Who was I dating?" he asked.

"Not just one person, Naruto," Sakura decided to intervene. "Just a few people you met from classes who were dumb enough to say yes."

"But TenTen almost said a name," he said, frowning. "Who was she talking about?"

The pink-haired girl sighed. "She was going to say _me_, but I told her not to mention that because--"

"Me and _you_?" Naruto exclaimed, looking a bit delighted.

The expression made Sasuke cringe. But he knew that the high school Naruto had been obsessed about Sakura for a long time.

Sakura gave him a smile. "Yeah, but we didn't last long. You got your eyes placed on someone else really quickly." Naruto didn't notice how she glanced down at Sasuke nor how the Uchiha glared up at Sakura.

Sasuke then got to his feet and said, "I'm going to let you all talk. I've got some work I really have to start."

Naruto looked over at him, wondering why he suddenly didn't want the Uchiha to go, but watched as he left the room, shutting the door to the bedroom a bit more loudly than usual. He looked around at the rest of the group and asked, "Is he mad about something? He seems mad."

Again, everyone looked uncomfortable, and this time looked at Sakura, since she was the only one other than Naruto that the Uchiha was close to.

The pink-haired girl sighed again. "He's just stressed out about classes, and he's disappointed about something. Don't worry about him either, Naruto. You know Sasuke, always brooding."

"That's for sure," Naruto agreed. Then he frowned and asked, "It isn't anything because of me, is it?"

Everyone looked up at him quickly; was he remembering something? However, the blonde just looked confused, not as though he remembered something important.

When no one answered him, he said, "I mean, he's been acting like this a lot lately. It's…different than how he usually treats me."

"How's he acting?" Sakura asked, curious. Sasuke seemed to be hurting the blonde without even realizing it.

"He hardly says a word to me," Naruto replied. "I mean, we're not exactly close,--" (everyone smirked knowingly at that), "--but, from when I remember, we at least used to fight or have some kind of conversation… N-Now, he just ignores me like I've done something bad."

Sakura knew Sasuke was hurting about the blonde's amnesia and because he still believed everything had been his fault. His need to blame himself heightened when Naruto got amnesia, because now he believed he'd caused that too. However, she was pleased to see that Sasuke's attitude was depressing the blonde; it meant Naruto's feelings for the Uchiha really were somewhere inside.

Sakura smiled at Naruto and said, "Naruto, leave Sasuke-kun to me, okay? He's been a bit off lately because he's had trouble at work." This wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't exactly the truth either.

The blonde nodded. "Okay, I guess."

"I'll go talk to him right now, okay?" she said. "Don't worry about him."

She then excused herself and walked into the other bedroom, not even bothering to knock. She found Sasuke lying on the bed staring at the ceiling with a blank look on his face. He didn't even turn to acknowledge her when she shut the door behind her and sighed.

"I thought you said you had work to do," the pink-haired girl said.

"I lied," he replied.

"Why?"

"Because I just can't stand being in the same room with Naruto," he said. "It hurts too much."

"Do you realize you're hurting him too?" she said.

These words effectively made the Uchiha turn to look at her. Sakura nodded at his disbelieving expression and sat down on the bed beside him.

"After you walked out he asked if you were mad about something and if it had to do with him."

"Don't tell me you--"

"Of course not, Sasuke-kun. I don't exactly have a death wish."

"Hn."

"He remembers how in senior year the two of you fought and acknowledged each other," Sakura said. "You remember how, while you were rivals, you were also sort of friends? You tolerated him more than anyone else, and he was one of the first ones to ever get you to talk."

"I know, Sakura, what are you getting at?" Sasuke asked.

"Naruto's upset because you're not acting like that. You're just ignoring him from what he just told me and that's not right, Sasuke-kun. I know what you're trying to do, but it's only making him feel bad."

The Uchiha looked away. "It's hard, Sakura."

"I know it is."

"But you really _don't_. He remembers you."

"He remembers you too, Sasuke-kun, and don't you forget that!" Sakura exclaimed angrily. Sasuke could be so stupid sometimes.

"What's so great about remembering the times _before_ we got together?" Sasuke demanded.

"Because he still remembers _you_!" Sakura said. "He hasn't forgotten you, Sasuke-kun. His feelings for you must definitely be in him somewhere. Him being upset about your attitude proves that, don't you think? Why don't you try and act like a normal human around him?"

"Because it's virtually impossible right now when I know he doesn't love me back, Sakura!" Sasuke yelled.

"Then make it so he _will_!" she shot back.

The Uchiha sat there glaring at his friend who only glared back just as equally. She was right and he knew it, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew he was being horribly rude. Naruto needed friends more than ever now, and since he was staying with Sasuke, he should have been more accepting, more welcoming to him than he had been.

Sasuke sighed and hung his head. Sakura beamed at him.

"Know your mistake now?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Good. Then come back out, okay? Talk to Naruto instead of sulking like a four year old," Sakura said.

"Fine," the Uchiha said as he followed Sakura back to join the others.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"That turned into a hell of a party," Naruto said five hours later as he and Sasuke were cleaning the apartment after everyone else had left.

"Note to self: _never_ let Kiba get drunk," Sasuke said and Naruto laughed.

"True, true," the blonde agreed.

"I was surprised _you'd_ held your liquor so well, dobe," the Uchiha said. "Since you and Inuzuka are so much alike, I would've thought you'd be just as hung over as he was."

"Naw, I drink responsibly," the blonde said. "Unlike you, who hardly drank anything at all."

"I had one can, which is fine for me," Sasuke said defensively. "You should be glad I'm not like Kiba or you'd have to be cleaning the bathroom up all night."

Naruto shuddered. "Then thanks are in order?"

"You've repaid me by helping me clean up," Sasuke said as he put a couch cushion in its proper spot.

"Well, I _am_ sleeping on the couch. It would be a lot more comfy with all of the cushions back in place and stuff," the blonde replied and Sasuke gave a small smile.

However, to the amnesiac blonde, who wasn't as used to the 'nice and smiling Sasuke' stared at him with astonishment.

"What?" the Uchiha snapped.

"You sm-smiled," the blonde stated as though he still couldn't believe it possible.

"Yeah? What of it?" Sasuke said.

"I-I've just never seen you smile before," Naruto said. "It's really nice."

Sasuke stopped and stared at him. Almost this exact same conversation had occurred the first time Naruto had seen him smile. To be precise, it had been exactly the same time around which the amnesiac Naruto had thought it to be when he'd woken up. Pain tugged at Sasuke's heart but he hid it well, looking away.

"I-I'm gonna go to bed," he mumbled, wanting to leave the blonde's presence.

"Fine. Mind if I watch some T.V.?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "Just don't put the volume up too loud."

"Sure," Naruto replied before plopping down on the couch and grabbing the remote control.

Sasuke watched him for a moment before sighing and heading to his room, unaware of blue eyes watching him leave.

In the uncomfortable emptiness of his room, Sasuke laid down on his bed, staring at the ceiling as he had been five hours previous, before Sakura had went and gotten him. Thinking about the conversation he'd just had with the blonde, he felt his heart clench painfully in his chest. Had Naruto been the way he was before the accident, he would have made Sasuke forget about going to sleep and make him stay up and watch random shows. He would have been so annoying and so irresistible that Sasuke would have had no choice but to lay down on the couch beside his boyfriend and endure pointless shows.

But this Naruto wouldn't do that. This Naruto had no reason to ask Sasuke to cuddle up with him for the night. This Naruto wouldn't even fathom the very thought because it just wasn't how it was so supposed to be.

Sasuke knew that living with this Naruto wasn't going to be easy, but he wasn't sure just how much he could suffer before losing it all. He wasn't prepared to live with an amnesiac Naruto; he didn't know what to do. He had to think every thought through, having to be certain not to say anything that would let him know about their years together. But, he wanted Naruto to know. He wanted to at least _try_ and tell him, to see what he would do, or say. He had an inkling to that already, but he just wanted to give it a shot. But, Iruka had been adamant against it. He said that it would just be too much for Naruto right now, and deep inside Sasuke knew he agreed. It still didn't make it any easier.

But it hurt so much because their feelings were so much different now. Being with Naruto was going to take a lot of getting used to. Used to the 'bastard' suffix…used to the reoccurring fights…and, used to the lack of affection. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_.

**Author's Note:** Yay, I'm back! This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I decided to cut it and get it up and put the rest into the next chapter instead. I'm sorry about the long wait, I got caught up in my other SasuNaru story for awhile, but I'm back!

I want to let you all know that this will probably be my last update for the summer because I'm going to New York for two weeks and then when I get back I have to pack to leave for college. Therefore, I'm letting you all know that I'm not sure when my next update will be, because I'm going to have to get used to my new school and dorm and everything. Hopefully, I'll be keeping up with writing and updating. Please be patient with me! I'll try my hardest!

Anyway, thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I love ya all so much! And now, I'll shut up and let you read. Please enjoy!

**Chapter Five**

_Retrograde amnesia. That's what the doctors said Naruto had. I immediately took the time to read up on it, to learn it, to know and understand it. I made it so that I knew everything possible about amnesia, so that I wouldn't be left out in the dark if something ever happened to him again. Retrograde amnesia is the inability to remember events that occurred before the incidence of trauma. This explained why Naruto remembered nothing about the night of the crash, and remembered nothing of us being together. The websites and books had said it was a rare case for amnesiac patients to forget anything more than a few months, and knowing this only increased my desolation. _

_However, after more and more research, I learned that amnesia usually only lasted a few hours. Obviously, that wasn't the case with Naruto, but that the longest amnesiac patients went unable to remember things was only a few months. This brought the hope back within me at full force. While I wasn't sure if I could handle a few months, it was still better than having to go years, as that was what I'd thought before my research. I even found out that as amnesiacs recover, they usually remember the memories that they had lost. Older memories come first, and then the most recent, until everything is fully restored. I had to reread that part about twenty times until I completely understood it. Naruto would remember everything. His memories would come back. I didn't have to be worried about it so much anymore. _

_There was a bit of a dilemma that had caused me a great deal of worry because Naruto constantly asked when his house would be done being fumigated. I knew I couldn't keep lying to him just to make him stay at the apartment, but I wanted him around so badly that I begged Iruka to come up with another excuse. Grudgingly, and probably only because Kakashi and I wouldn't leave him alone, Iruka had told Naruto that during the fumigation, they had found a lot of ants and cockroaches. I don't think Naruto was entirely convinced about that, but he went along with it and I found myself with another week to keep the blonde at the apartment and my worry went away._

_ But, as nothing was changing with Naruto's condition, I couldn't help but feel anxiety swell in me. Naruto wasn't giving anything away that would seem as though he was remembering something. It was horribly frustrating and painful. I wanted him to remember so badly that a few times I had to stop myself from telling him the truth. _

_Everyday was getting harder and harder, and every morning I asked the same questions: "Will he remember something today? Will he remember me? Will he remember when we were together?"_

_My disappointment only increased when for the next few weeks, nothing had changed, and no lost memories were recovered. I was still living with the love of my life, who had no feelings for me whatsoever._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On the Saturday of the second week after Naruto had awoken from his coma, Sasuke awoke with the smell of pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Blinking, Sasuke sat up in his bed and stared at the partially open door from where the delicious smell was coming from.

_Is…Naruto making breakfast?_

Deciding to find out what was going on, the Uchiha stretched and got up before heading out into the kitchen, only to have his jaw drop at the table that was set up with all kinds of wonderful breakfast foods.

"Morning sleepyhead!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly and causing Sasuke to jump and spin around to stare at him.

The blonde was grinning as he put some more pancakes onto the plate on the table before dumping the pan into the sink. He turned back to Sasuke and frowned at the Uchiha's frozen expression.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "D-Don't you like pancakes?"

Sasuke snapped out of his reverie and turned to Naruto, shaking his head. "No, no, I do, but…I-I'm just surprised…Wh-What is all of this?"

"Breakfast, duh," the blonde replied.

Sasuke gave him a look. "I know _that_. But…why?"

Naruto looked a bit uncomfortable as he scratched the back of his neck and replied, "Well, I thought it was the least I could do…You're letting me stay here and I dunno if I've been exactly the best roommate. So I thought I'd make you breakfast. Especially since you were up so late studying; thought you'd enjoy sleeping in a bit and having a good meal."

Sasuke stared at him, amazed because the 'senior-year-Naruto' would have _never_ done this. _Maybe Sakura _is_ right…He really does have some feelings for me in there somewhere…_

"Thanks, then, I guess," Sasuke said as he sat down at the table and Naruto sat opposite him. He looked up at the blonde and said, "I didn't know you could cook, dobe." In truth, he _did_; Naruto made them breakfast, lunch, and dinner whenever he could, and Sasuke loved the blonde's cooking, especially since his kitchen skills were rather limited. But _this_ Naruto didn't know that.

"I'm surprised you didn't burn down the entire place," Sasuke added, as he began to cut his pancake with his fork.

Naruto childishly stuck his tongue out at him. "I can cook very well, thank you very much. Living with Iruka paid off somewhere."

"Well, you're definitely right about that. You are a good cook," Sasuke said after taking a few bites.

The blonde looked pleased. "Really? You like it? It's my first time cooking for someone other than Iruka."

Sasuke captured the blonde's azure gaze and saw a flicker of surprise cross the other boy's face at the look. "Yeah. I really do like it."

"W-Well, d-don't get used to it, bastard!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm not going to be your personal cook or anything! I just did this today to repay you!"

"One breakfast is hardly enough to repay me for a few weeks, don't you think?" Sasuke said. "But I may call it even if you make a lunch and dinner too."

"Bastard," Naruto mumbled and Sasuke smirked.

Just then there was knock on the door and both boys turned to stared at it before Sasuke got up to answer it, wondering who it was.

The instant he opened the door, there was a shriek and then Sasuke found himself falling to the ground with something heavy on top of him.

"Oh, Sasuke! How are you? I haven't seen you forever! Why don't you ever call home?" the elder Uchiha exclaimed, hugging his younger brother.

Slowly losing oxygen, Sasuke managed to say, "G-Get the fuck off me, an-aniki." He then pushed hard with his arms and legs and shoved his brother off of him. Sasuke quickly got to his feet and breathed deeply, getting air into his lungs.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke demanded.

"I came to see you and to see Naruto-kun," Itachi said obviously. "Where is he? Where's Naruto-kun?" The elder brother looked around the room and when he spotted the blonde who was watching the scene cautiously, a grin broke on his face and he practically launched himself onto the blonde.

"Ah! Naruto-kun! Naruto-kun! How are you? Are you well? Is Sasuke taking care of you? Are you feeling better? It's sooo good to see you again, Naruto-kun!" Itachi exclaimed as he continued hugging a startled and frightened blonde.

"P-Please get off of me! I-I don't know who you are!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, trying desperately to pry Itachi's hold on him.

Sasuke walked over and pulled his brother off of Naruto before he caused damage. He pushed Itachi into a chair and stared at him with menacing eyes. "Don't you _ever_ do that again, understand? You know about his…condition, so don't do anything rash!"

"B-Bu-But S-Sasuke…" Itachi whined. "I was just happy to see him."

"Well don't be," Sasuke snapped before turning back to the blonde who was hugging himself looking lost and frightened. Sasuke resisted the urge to hug him. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine…" he replied. "Uh, w-who is that?"

"He's nobody," Sasuke replied nonchalantly.

Itachi whined again. "_Sasuke!_ You're so meeeann! Tell him who I am! Tell him, tell him!"

Sasuke pressed his fingers against his temples to rub away the headache that always came when his brother was around. "This is my older brother, Itachi," Sasuke grumbled.

"Oh, I see," Naruto said. "No wonder you both look alike."

Itachi let out another shriek and exclaimed, "See? See, Sasuke? We look alike!"

"Shut. Up. Now," Sasuke snarled angrily.

"Um, I don't remember meeting him…but I do know him, right?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

The younger Uchiha nodded. "Yeah, you and Itachi met when--" But he cut himself off as he realized belatedly that he couldn't tell Naruto when they'd met without giving away about the two of them being together. When Naruto had met Itachi, it had been a few months after they'd first started dating, during the summer, and Sasuke had needed to go home to get some things he'd left there. Naruto had wanted to come along, and they planned it as a trip since Sasuke knew his brother was supposed to be out of town and the house would have been empty. But when they'd arrived, Itachi had been there, in all of his annoyingly psychotic glory and didn't give the two any amount of peace.

Of course, Sasuke couldn't tell Naruto this, but what could he say to make it sound convincing?

"You met me during a school function during your freshman year at the university. You thought I was Sasuke, I mean, we _do_ look alike, but then you realized I wasn't him," Itachi said to the blonde, and Sasuke stared at his brother, silently thanking him for probably the first time in his life.

Naruto nodded. "Oh, okay. Uh, I-I'm sorry I don't remember you."

Itachi waved a hand at him. "Not to worry, I understand. I'm just glad you're okay."

"Uh, thanks, I guess…" Naruto said. He didn't like meeting people he couldn't remember because it just confused him and made him feel bad.

"Was there anything else you wanted, aniki?" Sasuke asked his brother. "If not, then get the hell out of my apartment."

"Actually," Itachi said as he reached into his pocket for something, "I got some free tickets to a movie that I don't want to see. If you two want them, you can."

"Ooh, what movie?" Naruto asked, reaching out for the tickets.

"Uh, Click? Something like that," Itachi replied.

"Cool! I'll take 'em!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'll ask Sakura-chan if she wants to come with me!"

Sasuke flinched at that, but he tried not to be too upset about it. Of course _this_ Naruto would be hung up over Sakura. _This_ Naruto didn't have feelings for Sasuke like that. But even though he knew it, even though it was understandable, he still hated it, and it still hurt. He watched the blonde warily, feeling his heart clench tighter and tighter every time Naruto's grin grew wider with excitement.

Itachi noticed his brother's stiff posture and the look of wanting to scream in anguish and sighed, feeling pity overwhelm him. He walked over to his brother and whispered, "Why don't you just tell him the truth?"

Sasuke almost jumped from the sudden voice, but then sighed. "I can't."

"Why not? Who's stopping you?"

"You know Iruka told me not to. I'm not going to go against him; he's Naruto's guardian."

"But you're his boyfriend. You care about him so much more."

"Don't say that. Iruka cares about Naruto a lot; that's why he won't let me tell him. He doesn't think _this_ Naruto can handle it," Sasuke replied.

"Do you think he can?" Itachi asked.

"I don't know," he said before sighing. He gave his brother a cool glare. "Don't you think I want to tell him? I'm dying to tell him. I want him to know so badly it hurts. But I don't want to force our relationship back on him. I want him to--"

"--Fall for you all over again?" Itachi finished. "Sasuke, you don't know if he will."

"Well, I have to try, don't I?" the younger Uchiha shot back.

"You're just hurting yourself even more."

"I can take care of myself just fine, aniki. Please, just stay out of this, okay?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi sighed and moved away. "Your call, little brother. Do whatever you want."

Sasuke just glared at him.

"And I'm sorry about the tickets," Itachi said. "I was meaning for the two of you to go together."

Sasuke shrugged, pretending he didn't care, when he really did. "Don't bother. It's to be expected. He doesn't have any feelings for me right now."

"No, Sasuke. He doesn't _remember_ his feelings for you. There's a difference. And, if he never does, you can still make him see. He doesn't have feelings for you _yet_," Itachi said.

"Yo, Sasuke-bastard!" Naruto exclaimed and Sasuke flinched again.

"What do you want, dobe?" Sasuke asked.

"You don't have any ramen. Can we go get some?"

Sasuke sighed and replied, "Why don't you just go yourself? I've got stuff to do."

"Well, _fine_ then, I will!" Naruto exclaimed, angrily. "Geez. Do you _ever_ stop having a stick up your ass?"

"Not with you around I don't," Sasuke retorted.

Naruto stuck a tongue out at him before storming out the door, leaving the two Uchiha brothers alone.

"I think this means you have to leave too, aniki," Sasuke said, turning away from his brother to finish the remains of his breakfast.

"Why do you act like that with him?" Itachi asked instead.

"Like what?"

"Like a bastard? It'll just make him hate you even more."

"He gets weirded out when I'm nice."

"You're making things harder on yourself."

"And you've overstayed your welcome," Sasuke replied before pushing his brother out the door. "Don't come back here again. Goodbye, aniki." And he slammed the door shut in his brother's face and locked the door.

Sasuke returned to the table and sighed, deciding he'd lost his appetite. He didn't bother putting the dishes away, he just wasn't in the mood to do anything. Retreating to his room, he collapsed on the bed and resumed his usual pastime; staring at the ceiling. His mind went over everything that had been happening since Naruto had awoken from the hospital. He'd been so happy to have the blonde back in his life, alive, that he hadn't let any other emotion take its toll. But after the conversation with his brother about how he was waiting to see if Naruto would remember and how Itachi had said that he might not, and after how Naruto had decided to invite Sakura to the movies and not him, Sasuke couldn't take it anymore.

But he wouldn't let himself cry. Uchihas were above crying and he wouldn't resort to such weakness. But it hurt so much. It hurt to be in the same apartment with him. It hurt to be in the same room with him. It hurt to see him. It hurt to hear him talk. It hurt so much knowing that he remembered nothing of his own feelings for Sasuke, nor Sasuke's feelings for him.

Sasuke hated this! He hated everything that was happening. He hadn't done anything to deserve such punishment. Naruto hadn't done anything to deserve it either. Why had their perfect lives been ruined? Why had it had to have been them? He just couldn't stand it anymore. He didn't know how much longer he could live with it. Knowing his feelings weren't going to return. Having to hold onto the small ray of hope that could disappear at any moment. But who was he kidding, really? Even if Naruto _did_ remember his feelings, it didn't mean he'd believe them. It didn't mean he'd accept them. He could very well chuck them out the window and never be bothered by them again.

Itachi was right. He was just making everything worse for himself, but what could he do? He wanted Naruto to remember on his own terms. As much as he hated having the blonde not remember him, he didn't want to force their relationship back on him.

Sasuke rolled over onto his side and stared up at the framed picture on his desk. It was a picture of him and Naruto recently taken after they had gotten together. Iruka had told him to hide anything that would remind Naruto of them dating, but Sasuke couldn't bring himself to put that picture away. He'd managed to take down the other pictures, putting them into a shoebox and hiding it in the closet; it had been difficult, but he'd done it. But he couldn't hide this one. It would be too much to hide away _every_ memory from the blonde.

Sasuke felt his heart clench in his chest as he continued to stare at the picture. Naruto was smiling that idiotic grin and he himself had his arm around the blonde's waist possessively. God, he loved Naruto so much, and it just wasn't fair. None of this was fair. Of all the people, why did Naruto have to forget _him_?

And for the first time since he was little, Sasuke let his pride take a vacation because no longer could he really keep his feelings hidden. He curled up onto his side and let the tears finally break free and stream down his cheeks.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He turned and tried to block the sound with his pillow but didn't succeed as the knocking only grew louder. Groaning, Sasuke peeked one eye open to glare at the door.

"Sasuke-bastard, you okay in there? You haven't been out all day!" Naruto called from the other side.

_Of course I haven't. I've been wallowing in well-deserved grief and pity, _Sasuke thought, remembering the reason for having curled up in bed and falling asleep. It also explained why his head hurt like hell. _No more crying, ever, again,_ he decided.

"Sasuke-bastard!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

He groaned loudly again and got to his feet, stretching. Glancing at his watch, he was surprised to find it was almost six. Had he really slept that long?

Working the kinks out of his neck, he walked over to the door and pulled it open, only to duck from the blonde's fist almost hitting his face as he tried to knock again.

"Oh, sorry," Naruto apologized.

Sasuke just shuffled past him.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good," Naruto asked.

But the Uchiha just walked into the bathroom and shut the door in his face.

"Fine then, bastard! And after I was worried! I thought you'd killed yourself or something in there!" Naruto exclaimed heatedly. "See if I care anymore!"

Once he heard the blonde stomp away, Sasuke sighed and leaned against the door, heaving a few deep breaths. He didn't want to have to face the blonde just yet. After wasting almost eight hours sleeping and crying over Naruto and his life, Sasuke just didn't think he could look at the blonde without breaking down again. And that was something he did not want to do. Even the blonde before the accident hadn't seen him cry, and he was sure that _this_ Naruto would have a much harder time dealing with it than the other Naruto would have.

Sasuke stripped out of his clothes, deciding to take a shower to clear his head. And then afterwards he'd try and be civilized with the blonde during dinner.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto stared at the bathroom door for a moment before looking back at the T.V. However, a moment later his eyes wandered back to the bathroom door before he realized what he was doing and looked away again.

"What is he _doing_ in there?" Naruto wondered aloud. "I mean, it's been almost an hour. He'd better not be drowning himself or something."

He didn't know why but for some reason he felt worried about Sasuke's behavior. After he'd returned from the store with his ramen and he hadn't seen Sasuke right away he'd freaked. He wasn't sure why he'd freaked; it was the bastard's house and he could leave whenever he wanted to. But for some reason he had. However, after realizing Sasuke was just in his room, he relaxed and had spent his time watching T.V. and eating ramen. That is until it grew late and he wondered what the Uchiha was doing in his room. He knocked and hadn't gotten a reply, which was odd because he'd figured Sasuke had been studying and whenever he bugged Sasuke while he studied he always yelled back profanities about being disturbed. And after living with Sasuke for a week, he'd learned that the Uchiha never took naps, so he didn't think this time would have been any different.

And then, that worry feeling had swelled in him and he'd just started pounding on the door. He didn't know why but he just felt worried. He was relieved when Sasuke had walked out, but had felt even more worried after seeing his face. His eyes were puffy and red and he looked horrendously tired and worn out. It had seemed to Naruto that he had fallen asleep crying, but that couldn't be true. Uchiha Sasuke didn't _cry_.

And now, Sasuke had been in the shower for more than an hour and he was again worrying despite himself. He didn't know why he cared. He and Sasuke weren't exactly buddies, so why did he give a damn? But Sasuke had told him that they had gotten a bit closer since the last time he remembered. But even if they had, it still didn't seem enough to warrant _this_ amount of worrying over him.

Just when he was contemplating to call Sasuke out, he heard the water stop and Sasuke getting out of the shower. He sighed with relief. _At least he's okay_, he thought before suddenly shaking his head for caring so much. He turned to the door and said, "Did you drown in there or something, Sasuke-bastard? You've been in there for over an--"

However, his sentence evaporated the second Sasuke walked out the bathroom in nothing but a fluffy white towel around his waist. His wet hair was dripping onto his sleek porcelain skin and he looked up at Naruto through half-lidded eyes.

The blonde suddenly found himself blushing and having no idea why. This was _Sasuke_, the bastard, the jerk, his rival! Why would he suddenly feel so flustered by looking at him like that?

_Like that? I'm not looking at him in any way. I-I-I'm just looking! Yeah! No, no, no, no! It's Sasuke! _

He couldn't explain any of it, but just staring at the Uchiha, at his toned body and at his smooth pale skin that contrasted distinctly with his raven hair, Naruto couldn't help the blush that continued to grow forcefully on this cheeks and neck.

_Stop blushing! _he commanded himself.

An inner voice replied to his demand flippantly, _Well, it's not our fault he's so hot and you're reacting like that. _

_HOT? Sasuke-bastard is NOT **HOT**! _

_Then why do you keep staring?_

Naruto had no reply to that because he _was_ staring and for some reason he couldn't break his gaze away.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was watching the blonde curiously with a small smirk rising on his face. _He's staring,_ he told himself almost gleefully because that meant that the blonde did have some of his old feelings for him.

Feeling the best he had that entire day, the Uchiha smirked fully at the blonde and called, "You okay over there, dobe?"

A strangled "yes!" answered his question and Sasuke almost laughed.

"Like what you see?" he called again and this time Naruto let out an undignified yelp before turning away quickly.

"I-In your d-dreams, Sasuke-bastard!" he yelled back and then put the T.V. volume really loud so he wouldn't hear the Uchiha anymore.

Sasuke walked into his room and shut the door before laughing slightly. Now, that had been very amusing. He loved seeing an embarrassed and flustered Naruto; he was so cute like that. He smiled suddenly as he remembered what the blonde had said last.

_Yes, Naruto. In my dreams. Always in my dreams. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What do you want to eat for dinner, dobe?" Sasuke asked as he walked out into the other room, having changed into jeans and a black shirt.

Remembering earlier events, Naruto didn't look up at him, instead kept his eyes glued on the T.V. screen as he answered, "What do you have?"

"Not much," Sasuke admitted as he looked through the fridge. "We can order something. Pizza? Chinese? What do you want?"

"R--"

"And don't you dare say ramen!"

"Bastard," Naruto growled. "Fine. Pizza."

"What kind?"

"Don't care. I'll eat whatever you get."

_That's damn true._ "Okay," Sasuke said but just before he called the number, there was a knock at the door and he turned to stare at it.

"Who is it?" Naruto asked.

"Beats the hell out of me," the Uchiha replied as he went to answer it. If it was Itachi again, he'd shoot him. He'd had enough of his brother for one day. But instead of Itachi, Sasuke found himself facing Sakura.

"What're you doing here?" he asked as he let her inside.

"Quit looking so annoyed," she replied. "I came to see my two favorite boys."

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" the blonde exclaimed excitedly, hopping over the back of the couch to greet her with a hug.

Sakura smiled and said, "How are you, Naruto? Remember anything yet?"

"No," he replied dejectedly. "And I hate it!"

"I know, I know," she said. "Just don't think of it right now. I brought some dinner! Chinese!"

"Sweet!" Naruto exclaimed before digging through the bag of food. "I'll go get plates."

"Sakura," Sasuke said turning to her.

"Sasuke-kun, I told you to stop looking so annoyed," she said sternly. "And don't sigh like that either! I just thought you two could use some company and that you'd be hungry. Was I wrong?"

"No, you weren't," Sasuke replied. "Sorry, Sakura."

"Don't worry, Sasuke-kun. I know you're a jackass, that's what we all love about you," Sakura teased before she gave him a hug.

Sasuke shot her a glare and she pulled away.

"Now _that's_ something new!" Naruto exclaimed staring at them.

"What?" Sasuke snapped.

"You actually _let_ someone hug you? Isn't that like against the Uchiha code or something?"

"Very funny, dobe," Sasuke said and didn't bother replying to the question.

"Sasuke-kun's changed a lot since you remember, Naruto," Sakura said. "Haven't you, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn," was the Uchiha's reply.

"Again with the half-assed answers," Naruto said. "I dunno what you mean, Sakura-chan. He hasn't changed at all."

"You'll see, Naruto," Sakura replied. "Anyway, enough talky, let's eat."

"Amen!" Naruto exclaimed.

The three sat down at the table and helped themselves to the Chinese that Sakura had brought. Naruto and Sakura held most of the conversation, which was fine with Sasuke because he knew the blonde liked it better that way. He'd have to thank Sakura later for coming over; it was always hard keeping a conversation going when it was just him and an amnesiac Naruto.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, are you doing anything tomorrow?" Naruto asked.

"I haven't decided yet, why?" she replied.

"Well, I have tickets to see Click. Want to come with me?" the blonde asked looking extremely hopeful.

Sasuke tensed beside the pink-haired girl and only she seemed to notice. He tried not to feel too upset, but he couldn't help it. He clenched his hands tightly around the chopsticks he was holding and stared fixedly at his plate, wondering why the food upon it hadn't yet burst into flames from the force of his glare.

But, to his surprise, instead of Sakura accepting the offer, she said, "Sorry, Naruto. I've already seen the movie and I don't really like watching movies twice in theatres."

Sasuke turned to look at her because he _knew_ that was a lie. For one, she had told him herself she'd been dying to see Click and had begged him to go with her, and two, she _always_ saw movies more than once in theatres. The last one being The Lake House, which she'd seen about five times, and had dragged him to three of those showings, despite his protests and deaths threats.

The pink-haired girl didn't look back at him, though he knew she knew he was watching her closely. She just gave Naruto a very apologetic look and said, "I'm really sorry, Naruto. Why don't you ask Sasuke, instead? I know he wants to see that movie."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly as she turned to him and he saw that familiar look to mischief. She was planning for him and Naruto to go together and Sasuke was wondering if he should be grateful or just yell at her for making the blonde upset. And, anyway, he was sure Naruto wouldn't want to go with him in the first place; which was why he'd asked Sakura first.

"Oh, that's okay Sakura-chan, I just thought I'd ask," Naruto said, though he felt a bit upset nevertheless. "I'll ask Kiba if he wants to go instead."

And Sasuke felt even worse than before. He looked away and busied himself with eating, ignoring the look of pity Sakura kept throwing at him.

His thoughts were derailed when Naruto dropped his chopsticks onto his plate and stared across the table at Sakura with a shell-shocked look on his face.

The pink-haired girl stared back, and said, "What's up? Why're you looking at me like that?"

However, Naruto didn't reply, he stared at Sakura, or more precisely at her hair, and stammered, "P-Pi-Pink…"

Sasuke and Sakura shared a confused look before the girl replied, "Yeah, Naruto, my hair is pink…You've always known that. What's going on?"

But again, the blonde didn't reply. Instead, he said, "Uh, a-a pink locker…"

Sasuke looked up at him quickly and demanded, "What did you say?"

"U-Um, a pink locker. I-I remember something about a pink locker," the blonde said, still looking confused but a bit excited. "Is it a memory? W-What is it?"

Since Sasuke looked to shocked to speak, Sakura replied, "During the beginning of senior year, you played a trick on Sasuke-kun by painting his entire locker pink. That's probably what you're remembering."

"Did that really happen?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"Yeah, it did," he replied, trying to keep his excitement from his voice. Naruto had finally remembered something!

"But why'd I do it?"

"I think you mentioned to me that you were just bored," Sakura replied with a smile. "Too bad you didn't realize Sasuke-kun would retaliate."

"He did?" Naruto said, looking surprised. "What'd you do, Sasuke-bastard?"

Sasuke smirked. "Well, since you loved the color pink, I dyed your gym clothes the same color."

"You dyed my gym clothes pink?" Naruto exclaimed, looking torn between shocked as all hell, and outraged. "How'd you manage to pick the lock?"

"I know a lot of things," Sasuke said. "Picking locks happens to be one of them."

"Your little fights only lasted a few weeks. Even now, we're not really sure what started them, since by then the two of you were already friends, we just guessed you both found it fun to find ways to humiliate each other," Sakura said. "And it was very entertaining."

"God! It feels good to remember _something_!" Naruto said. "I know it's not a lot, but--"

"You're wrong," Sasuke said, staring directly at the blonde. "It is a lot. Naruto, if you remember anything, anywhere, or any how, whether it's in a dream or like it happened right now, you have to tell me, or Sakura. Your doctors said not to disregard anything you remember, and between Sakura and I, I'm sure we can tell you if something really happened or not. Okay?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, sure. But that's all I have for right now. When I remember something else, I'll let you know."

"Good," Sasuke said. "Oh, and tomorrow we're going to the university, just to walk around and see if anything else triggers your memory, so don't forget."

"That's cool! It'll be neat to see the university," Naruto said.

"We'll stop and talk to some of the teachers you had too," Sasuke said. "And we'll visit with the dean. Wait, you should know her already."

"Really? Who?"

"Sannin Tsunade," Sakura answered. "Since Iruka works at the university, you should have met her. She was a friend of your parents."

"Tsunade-baa-chan?" Naruto exclaimed. "That old hag's the _dean_ at the university?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said. "She said she's waiting to talk to you."

"Great," Naruto said. "But wait, that means I've gotta spend the entire day with _you_?"

Sasuke flinched, but Naruto didn't seem to notice. But, he regained his composure, not letting his hurt show on his face, and with a smirk said, "Don't you already?"

Naruto stared at him and then blushed, realizing his own fault. "N-Not when you have classes!" he exclaimed in an attempt to cover up his stupidity.

Sasuke only smirked. "I'm sure one _entire_ day with me won't kill you," he said. "And, besides, from how you were looking at me earlier today, I'd say you _really_ don't mind."

Naruto's blush intensified. "T-Th-That was…"

"Yeah?" Sasuke prompted, enjoying the blonde's discomfort. It'd been too long since he'd been able to tease him like this.

"Shut up, bastard!" Naruto exclaimed heatedly before grabbing his plate and stomping into the kitchen to put it in the sink. He then stormed out of the room and into the bathroom, locking the door.

Sasuke let out a laugh as he helped himself to more food.

Sakura stared at him for a few seconds before she said, "Care to clue me in? What just happened?"

Smiling, Sasuke told her the story of what'd happened that day after he'd gotten out of the shower. When he finished, she smiled too.

"That's good news, Sasuke-kun!"

"That's what I thought too," he replied, feeling a lot better than he had in a long time and looking forward to the next day. An _entire_ day with his Naruto.

**A/N:** Sorry for the lame ending, but I decided to put everything else into the next chapter. Sorry, for a pretty lame chapter too. I just wanted to get it up and out of the way. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter anyway! Thanks for reading and leave a review please!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ belongs to the one and only K. Masashi.

**Author's Note:** Uh, h-hi, everyone:screams and ducks behind giant rock as an onslaught of sharp pointy objects sail through the air: I'm sorry:more sharp objects: Really I am! I didn't mean to go so long without an update! But my motivation and ideas for this story just dwindled while my motivation and ideas for my other sasunaru fic skyrocketed, so…I'm really truly very sorry! But I'm here now! And with the next marvelous installment of Remember When!

Okay, maybe not marvelous, but I think it's okay…maybe…hopefully…

Anyway, I wanna thank you all for your reviews and support! I love you all to death! Oh, and I wanna give special thanks to SovietChef for encouraging me to get off my lazy butt and finish this chapter! You were really so nice to me! I love you so much! This chapter's for you! Though I'm sorry that it sucks so bad…

Well, I'll shut up now and let you read. Please enjoy and I really truly am sorry for the stupidity and lameness of this chapter! I'll try to make it up in the next one, okay?

Love you all dearly, SilverRose88.

**Chapter Six**

_He stared around the dark hallway and felt his heart rate accelerate. Where was he? He didn't recognize this place! And why was it so dark; he could hardly see his hands in front of him. Suddenly he noticed a small sliver of light on the ground and the creaking noise of a door being closed. _

_Naruto turned and walked quickly as the light continued to grow smaller and smaller. He suddenly found himself in a large circular room with thousands of doors surrounding the walls. Confused and frightened, he reached for the handle of the door closest to him. However, it didn't open. He tried the next but to no avail. Frustrated, he stared around the room, wondering what was going on and why he was there. _

_The creaking noise of a door brought him back to reality and he turned to find one of the doors slowly closing, the light from behind it growing dimmer and dimmer. _

_"No!" he cried, not knowing what was going on, but knowing that he had to get through that door. His life depended on it. _

_And just before the door shut, he grabbed the handle and wrenched it open…the light on the other side almost blinding him…_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Sasuke! Sasuke! Wake up, dammit!" Naruto exclaimed, shaking the sleeping Uchiha forcefully.

Sasuke groaned angrily and made and attempt to slap the blonde, who dodged easily. "I'm sle-sleeping…go away…"

"Wake the hell up! I remembered something!" Naruto yelled, shaking Sasuke even harder.

At these words, Sasuke peeked an eye open. "What?"

"I remembered something! Just now, in my dream!"

The Uchiha sat up quickly and stared at the blonde. "Tell me," he demanded.

"It was a dance at school…and, and it was Halloween," Naruto said.

"Go on," Sasuke urged.

"We were both there. I was dressed as a pirate and you were a vampire," Naruto said.

Sasuke nodded, a smile growing on his face at the memory. "Anything else?"

"There were games and the entire night we kept trying beat each other at them to see who'd win the most." Naruto turned to Sasuke, eyes bright with excitement. "So-So, that really happened?"

"Yes, all of it," Sasuke replied. "It was probably the most fun I'd ever had at a dance."

"I can't believe you actually dressed up," Naruto said.

"Well, I couldn't be shown up by _you_ for the best costume contest, now could I?" Sasuke replied.

"So, who did win?" the blonde asked. "Me or you?"

Sasuke smirked and replied, "Do you even have to ask that? Of course I won."

Naruto smacked the Uchiha's knee and said with a grin, "Bastard."

"Feeling happy now?" Sasuke asked and the blonde nodded. "Good. Then get out so I can sleep."

"Fine, I'll leave you to your beauty rest," Naruto said and Sasuke glared at him.

"I don't take 'beauty rest', Naruto. I'm just tired," Sasuke clarified.

The blonde just walked to the door. "Whatever you say, Sasuke, whatever you say," he replied and then ran out quickly as Sasuke chucked a shoe at his head.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"This is Konoha University? It's huge!" Naruto exclaimed.

"No kidding," Sasuke said sarcastically. "Now stop gawking like an idiot and let's go. We're going to talk to all of the teachers you had for freshman year first. I've let them know that we're coming, and they're all excited."

"You make it sound like my professors and I were close."

"That's because you are. Iruka's your guardian, isn't he? And he teaches here too, so the other teachers here treat you like a son too," Sasuke replied.

"Is it possible that I already know some of them?" Naruto asked.

"Maybe. I don't really remember which teachers you've known before university," Sasuke replied.

Naruto turned to him curiously. "How do you know all of this anyway? Did Iruka tell you about it?"

Sasuke stiffened slightly, debating if he should lie or tell the truth. He decided on being truthful and replied, turning to face the blonde directly, "No, you told me about it, during our senior year."

Naruto blushed from the look the Uchiha was giving him and quickly looked away, mentally smacking himself for reacting like that. "Oh," he answered. "Well then, who's first?"

"Iruka told me to stop and say hi to him first, so that's where we're headed. Then, we'll go and talk to Kakashi," Sasuke replied.

"Sounds like a plan," Naruto said.

xxxxxxxxx

Luckily, Iruka didn't have a class when they walked into his room. However, he _was_ making out with Kakashi, which credited for a rather awkward silence as the blonde's guardian tried desperately to get away from his boyfriend who was grinning and only wrapped his arms tighter around him. Naruto watched with a smirk while Sasuke felt annoyed and slightly depressed. Seeing the two of them together, as childish as it sounded, made him want to be with Naruto like that again. He sighed and rubbed his eyes; now wasn't the time to be thinking about that.

"Naruto! Sasuke! I-I-I d-didn't think you'd been here s-so soon!" Iruka stammered as he continued to struggle in Kakashi's grasp.

"We wanted to get an early start. There are a lot of people Naruto has to go see," Sasuke replied. "Was there something you wanted? You told me to drop by to see you before heading to the others."

"Ah, yes," Iruka said, as he got to his feet, having smacked Kakashi on the head hard enough to let the man release his grip. He turned to Naruto and said, "I found this out last night, but I wanted to tell you in person instead. The house is finally complete, so you can come back if you want."

Naruto's eyes widened happily and Sasuke's plain fell out of his head. _No freaking way! He _can't_ leave! I won't let him!_

"Really? I can come back?" Naruto said.

"Yeah," Iruka said with a smile. He glanced at Sasuke and continued, "Only if you want to, of course. I've noticed that you seem to be pretty happy staying with Sasuke."

Naruto turned to look at the Uchiha, who quickly put on a deadpan expression so Naruto didn't realize what he was thinking. The blonde frowned and turned back to Iruka. "I guess it hasn't been that bad," Naruto admitted and Sasuke stared at him with surprise.

"Well, it's up to you, Naruto," Iruka said with a shrug. "I don't think Sasuke minds having you around, do you, Sasuke?"

"No! No!" he said, hoping he didn't sound too hasty in that reply. "I-I mean, it-it's nice having the dobe around…It's less lonely. I don't mind if he stays longer."

Naruto glared at him for being called dobe, but then frowned again, thinking over Sasuke's words. "You don't? Really?" he asked.

Sasuke looked at him directly and replied, "No, I don't."

Naruto's cheeks turned a bit pink and he looked away quickly. He turned to Iruka and said, "I-I'll think about it, okay?"

Iruka looked surprised. He had honestly thought the blonde would have immediately wanted to come home. Naruto having to actually _think_ about it meant things were going along much better than he'd hoped. He nodded at the blonde and said, "Fine. Just tell me soon, okay? No rush."

"Thanks, Iruka," Naruto said.

"We should get going then," Sasuke said. "Later."

"Bye!" Naruto called as the two left the room.

Iruka turned to Kakashi and smiled softly. "Looks like Naruto remembers more of his feelings for Sasuke than we gave him credit for."

"Hm, it seems that way, doesn't it?" Kakashi said, reaching for Iruka's arm and successfully pulling him back onto his lap.

Iruka gave an undignified yelp and smacked his lover on the back of the head. "Do you ever stop?"

Kakashi just grinned lazily and shook his head. "I say we celebrate Naruto having to 'think' about staying with Sasuke. It is a step in the right direction, no?"

"How do you suggest we celebrate?" Iruka questioned.

Kakashi's grin turned mischievous as he leaned forward and locked his lips with Iruka's.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Sasuke and Naruto sat down in the cafeteria around noon, taking a break from meeting teachers to eat lunch.

"I think it's been a good day for you," Sasuke said. "You've remembered a few of the classrooms we were in and you remembered two of our teachers."

"Yeah," the blonde agreed. "Asuma and Anko seemed pretty glad I remembered them. And, then I'd already met Gai and Kurenai when I was younger so I hadn't forgotten them at all. It was nice being able to remember people." Naruto smiled at the brunette and Sasuke forced one back.

"Well, the teachers _are_ the only people you really forgot in the first place," Sasuke said. "I mean, me, Iruka, Kakashi and then all of our friends you remembered because you'd already known them. It was obvious you wouldn't remember the teachers since you forgot freshman year completely."

"That's true," the blonde said. "Well, I still don't remember _what_ happened in the years I don't remember and that's still annoying the shit out of me."

"Don't worry, it'll come back," Sasuke said. _I hope_.

"I really hope so," Naruto said. "Can't you just tell me everything that happened?"

_Don't you think I want to?_ "No can do, sorry," Sasuke replied with a shake of his head. "Your doctors said not to. You're supposed to remember everything on your own. That's how it goes."

"Man, I-I really hate this," Naruto exclaimed. "I mean, things don't seem any different than what I remember. Except for starting university, everything seems the same."

"Well, you only forgot about two years."

"I guess. But didn't a lot change those two years?"

_You have no idea_. Sasuke shrugged. "Not much, I guess," he lied.

"Well, _you_ changed," Naruto said staring at the Uchiha who looked a bit surprised.

"Really?" Sasuke said, trying not to give anything away with his voice. "I think I'm pretty much the same."

"No, you're _way_ different than I remember. You're _nice_," the blonde said.

Sasuke winced a bit at that and looked away.

"It's weird," the blonde continued, "but I like it. I mean, we're friends…I like that we're friends. Instead of, you know, being rivals and hating each other."

Sasuke looked surprised again. "You do?" he asked Naruto.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, beaming. "I like that we're friends."

Sasuke let a small smile grace his lips. "Me too," he said. "I like that, too."

The blonde blushed slightly and looked away to eat his food.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?" a voice called out.

Sasuke and Naruto looked up to find Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino and Lee walking towards them.

"You're not starting classes again, are you Naruto?" Kiba asked as he sat down next to the blonde.

"Of course he's not, stupid," Shikamaru said.

"Sasuke and I came to visit with my profs that I had and then walk around campus to see if I remembered anything," Naruto explained.

"Did you?" Lee asked.

"Just a few of my profs, but that's it. Nothing about _what_ happened, just the people," Naruto said with a dejected sigh.

"It's really hard for you, isn't it?" Kiba asked.

"No, duh," Sasuke said obviously, giving Kiba a look.

"Hey, I'm just asking, man," Kiba said.

"But that was a stupid question," Sasuke said. "Of course it's hard, what did you think? That it was walk in the park to not remember two years of your life?"

"Okay, okay," Kiba said putting his hands out in front of him to block the verbal abuse. "I was just saying, that's all."

"Well, don't," Sasuke suggested.

"It's okay, Sasuke," Naruto said, surprised the Uchiha had gotten so worked up about it over him.

"Fine," Sasuke said and continued to eat his lunch.

Naruto turned to Kiba and said, "Hey, I have some tickets to see Click this weekend, do you want to go?"

"Really?" Kiba said.

"I already asked Sakura-chan, but she said no," Naruto said. "So, you want to go?"

Kiba glanced at Sasuke across from him and noticed how the Uchiha was stiff as a board, his hand clenched tightly around his fork. Kiba turned back to Naruto and shook his head. "No, sorry. I'm busy this weekend."

"Aw, man," Naruto said, disappointed. "You suck, Kiba."

The Inuzuka shrugged. "Sorry," he said.

Naruto turned to the others. "Can anyone of you go?" he asked.

Shikamaru, Choji, Shino and Lee glanced at Kiba who was staring pointedly at Sasuke. The four realized what he meant and at once all shook their heads.

"Sorry, Naruto," Choji said. "I've got stuff going on, too."

"Che, too troublesome," Shikamaru said.

"I've already seen it, Naruto," Shino said.

"I am busy as well, Naruto-kun," Lee said. "I am sorry."

"Man, this bites," Naruto said. "I don't want to go on my own. Who else can I ask?"

Sasuke glanced up at him hopefully but he sighed in dismay at the blonde's next words.

"I know! I'll call Neji," Naruto said. "There has to be _someone_ who's able to go with me."

_There is! And he's sitting right in front of you!_ the others all thought with a sigh.

Sasuke suddenly stood up and everyone looked up at him questioningly.

"Are we leaving?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. We need to go see Tsunade-sama now," Sasuke replied. "Let's go."

"Okay," the blonde replied. "Later guys."

"Bye," they called after as Sasuke and Naruto dropped their trays away and proceeded to the dean's office.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, brat," Tsunade greeted Naruto as he and Sasuke walked into her office.

"Hey, old hag, what's up?" the blonde replied.

"Don't call me that!" she snapped before turning to Sasuke and nodding. "Uchiha."

He nodded back and sat down in a chair in front of her desk while Naruto took the other.

"What did you want to see me for?" Naruto asked.

"Just making sure you're alive and kicking."

"You could have done that on the phone," Naruto said.

Tsunade glared at him. "Be grateful I'm worried about you, brat," she snapped. "Anyway, I have something else we need to discuss."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"When you're going to start classes again," she replied. Taking in the look on Naruto's face she added quickly, "Yes, I know it'll be hard, but you _do_ have to go back to school at some point and just prolonging it won't help."

Naruto sighed in defeat. "I know," he replied. "But I don't remember anything I learned in senior year either! I'm missing more than just freshman year education!"

"I understand that," Tsunade said. "I'm going to have you take a few tests to see where you're at and then I'll get a tutor for you to catch up to things. When you're ready, you can start your freshman classes again. You'll be behind a year from now on, at least until you regain your memories."

"You mean _if_ I regain my memories," Naruto corrected gloomily.

"No, I mean _when_," Tsunade said sternly. "You will get them back. Have faith."

He just looked away and she sighed.

Sasuke filled in the awkward silence by saying, "Is that all, Tsunade-sama?"

"Yes, yes," she replied. "You two can leave."

"Thank you," Sasuke said and ushered the blonde out the doors.

They walked in silence back outside, Naruto staring at the ground while Sasuke cast worried looks at him. Finally, the Uchiha couldn't take it anymore. He stopped walking in front of the blonde and Naruto, not looking where he was going, ran right into him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" the blonde exclaimed.

Sasuke turned to look at him and said, "Are you okay?"

Naruto blinked and said, "Huh?"

"You seem upset," Sasuke replied.

Naruto sighed and looked away. "I-I'm just worried about having to take all those tests and figuring out where I'm going to be placed. I-It's all so overwhelming and I'm…scared…"

The blonde looked so uncertain and out of place that Sasuke itched to hug him, but he held his composure and said, "I know it'll be hard, but if you need any help, you can ask me, you know…"

Naruto looked up and his blue eyes widened slightly. "Really?"

"I told you that before, didn't I? Anything you need, just ask me, and I'll promise I'll help," Sasuke said, staring directly at the blonde.

For some unbeknownst reason, Naruto blushed and he looked away again, this time for completely different reasons. He nodded after a moment and said, "O-Okay, th-thanks, Sasuke."

Sasuke smirked and replied, "No problem, Naruto."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_It was starting to become easier to be around him. It was almost like we'd gone back to when we'd first starting dating—we were still fighting, but we were nice to each other and we enjoyed being with each other. Granted, there was much less kissing and affection, but I was slowly getting accustomed to that partially because I _had_ to be. And, I admit, it was difficult for me. We had been together for two years and having to revert back to how we'd been before all of that was hard for me. There were times I wanted so badly to just grab Naruto and kiss him, so many times I just wanted to spill out the truth about everything, and so many times I just shut myself in my room, unable to deal with it all. But I was getting the hang of things and I was glad that at least Naruto felt as though we were friends and not enemies. It was a step up, as Sakura kept reminding me, and even though it was frustrating, I did find a sense of peace from it as well. _

_The good thing was that Naruto was slowly starting to remember more. However, they weren't anything of real importance, more like random incidences that happened during senior year. He was excited about it, really excited and was beginning to look less depressed whenever his amnesia was brought up. His hope had returned that _yes_, he would get better and I was glad. I hated it most when he was upset and I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't comfort him the way I had when we'd been together. I could only tell him it would be okay and then I would have to leave him alone. That was the hardest part; leaving him alone. I hated to do that. Before the accident, we would be there for the other as much as possible when something went amiss during our lives. I would never leave him alone if he was upset, and he would hover around me as well. But now, with _this_ Naruto, I wasn't able to do that. I could only tell him what he would want to hear and then leave it at that. It hurt, but it was all I could do. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, how were your placement tests?" Sasuke questioned the blonde a few days later.

Naruto shut the door and promptly fell onto the floor. Sasuke stared for a moment before laughing.

"That bad, huh?" the Uchiha questioned.

"That old hag made me take _all_ the tests in one day! ALL of them!" Naruto shouted from the floor. "I'm going to kill her, I swear I am."

Sasuke just shook his head. "When do you get your results back?"

"Knowing how lazy Tsunade-baa-chan is, probably not for another two months or something," he replied.

"I'm sure you did fine," Sasuke said. "I helped you review, so you can't have done _that_ badly."

"No, I think I did okay. I'm just mad that I had to take them ALL today!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Well, at least they're over with, right?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto grumbled against the carpet before saying, "I guess so."

"Well, there you go," Sasuke said. "Now get off the floor before you drool all over it."

"I don't drool!" Naruto hollered heatedly and jumped to his feet.

"Are you sure about that?" Sasuke teased.

Naruto glared at him. "Shut up, bastard," he snapped and Sasuke smirked at him before returning his attention to the news.

Naruto watched him for a moment before saying, "Hey, Sasuke?"

"Hmm?" the Uchiha said.

"Uh, are you busy tomorrow night?" Naruto asked quietly.

Sasuke turned to look at him. "Why?" he asked.

"Because those tickets your brother gave me expire tomorrow and I've asked everyone but no one can go with me," Naruto said. "Can you? I don't want to go alone."

Sasuke felt his heart skip at beat at finally being asked. He'd been waiting to see if Naruto would ever ask him and he was beginning to feel he never would. But, being asked last hurt just as much as never being asked at all.

The Uchiha gave Naruto a cool stare and replied, "Oh, so you come to be because no one else will go?"

The blonde's hopeful expression changed to hurt. He glanced away because it was the truth, even though he wouldn't admit it. Looking back at Sasuke, he was surprised to see that the Uchiha also looked hurt.

_He's upset because I asked him last? But why? Why would he care?_

Naruto sighed and said, "If you don't want to go, you don't have to…"

"I didn't say that, dobe," Sasuke said quickly and Naruto looked up at him. "I'll go, but you have to promise me one thing."

"Uh, okay…" Naruto replied uncertainly.

"Next time, don't let me be your last resort, okay?" Sasuke said.

The blonde nodded. "Sure, no problem!" he exclaimed. "Thanks, Sasuke."

"Yeah, whatever," Sasuke replied nonchalantly, though inside he was excited to go see the movie with Naruto. Sasuke knew that all of their friends had purposely declined seeing the movie with the blonde just so Naruto would have to ask him. He was grateful for that; glad that his friends were being so considerate of _his_ feelings, even though he normally wasn't considerate of theirs.

Sasuke turned to look at the blonde when he sat down beside him. Naruto was staring at him uncertainly, his hands fidgeting in his lap. Sasuke straightened up, confused by the blonde's behavior.

"Is something wrong?" eh asked.

Naruto glanced away, taking interest in the scratches on the coffee table for a few minutes before turning back to face Sasuke.

"Um, I-Iruka talked to me today about whether or not I was going to come back home or not," the blonde said and Sasuke's heart fell clear out of his chest.

"Oh, okay," the Uchiha replied, trying to sound nonchalant when in reality he felt as though his world was falling apart. He quickly got to his feet and said, "Have you decided yet?"

"Well, n-no," Naruto replied. "I-I'm not really sure what I should do."

"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke demanded, sounding harsher than he meant.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly at the Uchiha's anger.

"I mean, either you want to go back home with Iruka, or you want to stay here with me!" Sasuke exclaimed. "There really isn't much to think about!"

"But there _is_!" Naruto insisted, unable to understand the Uchiha's rage.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Sasuke questioned. "You can go back to Iruka's if you want, but I want you to—" The Uchiha quickly shut up, realizing where his tirade was taking him. He glanced at the blonde for a second before turning on his heel and storming into his room.

Naruto stared after him, shocked and confused. W-What just happened? He hadn't expected Sasuke to get so upset about this. He-He'd just wanted to talk to him about it, see if the Uchiha could help him figure out what would be the best form of action.

Truthfully, Naruto wasn't sure what to do about the situation. He'd purposely avoided thinking of it ever since Iruka had told him because he wasn't willing to pick one over the other. He loved Iruka; the man had been his guardian for as long as he could remember and he was like a father to him. He liked the house they lived in and knew he always had a place there.

But, for some unfathomable reason, he had enjoyed staying with Sasuke as well. He'd been wary about it at first when Iruka had told him, but after a while, he'd realized that it wasn't so bad. Things had definitely changed between eh two of them, that was for certain, and Naruto liked being around Sasuke. The Uchiha didn't treat him as though he were amnesiac and was going to fall apart at any second. He treated him like he had before, insults and all, and Naruto like that. He liked how they were friends now instead of enemies and he liked living with Sasuke. Somehow, it felt more comfortable. It felt _right_.

Naruto wasn't sure why he felt that way, but he did and he couldn't' help it. The feeling wouldn't' go away. Every time he came back to Sasuke' apartment, he felt that emotion again. It was hard to describe, but it made him feel like he was safe and that he was loved. It was an odd emotion, but it was what he felt.

Naruto glanced at the Uchiha's door and felt upset. He'd made Sasuke angry, but he wasn't sure why Sasuke was angry in the first place.

"_But I want you to—_" he recalled the Uchiha's words.

But I want you to—what? D-Did Sasuke _want_ him to stay? Is that what he'd been trying to say?

As Naruto continued to stare at the Uchiha's closed door, he began to realize exactly what it was that _he_ wanted to do. Thinking about it now, he couldn't' believe he'd been so stupid as to not realize it. He'd really only had _one_ choice, after all. Not two.

Heaving a big sigh, he walked down the hall to the Uchiha's door, ghosting a fist over the door. After a few minutes of debating he knocked. When he got no answer, he knocked again. Still, he received no replay. Growing a bit irritated, Naruto tried the door handle, surprised when the door opened easily.

He peeked inside before opening the door all the way. Sasuke was lying on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Naruto walked inside and shut the door behind him. "Uh, S-Sasuke?" he asked quietly.

The Uchiha didn't even look at him and Naruto frowned. _Is he _that_ upset about the thought of me leaving? But he didn't even give me a chance to say anything!_

The blonde walked over to the Uchiha's bed and after a moment's hesitation sat down next to him. He felt Sasuke tense next to him, but was grateful that the Uchiha hadn't left or punched him out.

"Sasuke, I-I want to ask you something," Naruto said quietly, staring uncertainly at his hands.

The Uchiha turned to the blonde, surprised by the serious yet almost frightened expression on the blonde's face. He sighed and sat up, turning to sit beside the blonde.

Naruto glanced up at him, but looked away quickly. He felt himself begin to blush as he said, "I-I'm not sure why you got upset a while ago, and I'm sorry—"

"Don't be, it's not your fault," Sasuke said quickly. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, I just…" He trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

Naruto just smiled at him and the Uchiha felt his heart constrict. He knew what was coming. Naruto was going to say he was returning home with Iruka. It was obvious, Sasuke knew it and it was also unstoppable. If it's what Naruto really wanted, Sasuke wouldn't stand in his way. He just wished it wouldn't hurt so much.

"A-Anyway," Naruto said. "Um, I-I've thought about everything. About whether I should go back with Iruka or-or if I should stay here…with you…"

Sasuke just stared at the blonde, keeping his face expressionless so as to not let the blonde know how much his words were hurting him.

"And, I-I've decided what I want to do," Naruto said.

Sasuke sighed and nodded. "Okay, Naruto, I—"

But the blonde cut him off. Staring straight into obsidian eyes, Naruto asked quickly, "S-Sasuke, c-can I stay here with you?"

**A/N:** Oh! I made a title page for this fic too! It's on my deviantart page. The link is in my profile if you want to check it out at all!

Thank you so much for all your support! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please leave a review!


End file.
